10:54 AM Aug 4, 2022
Although it’s technically not the lowest-priced market that Canada has seen this year — Brandon, Manitoba and Regina, Saskatchewan both have lower average home prices — Red Deer residents tend to have higher household incomes, averaging $77,700 after taxes. This means a smaller percentage of the just over 100,000 residents’ income is spent on housing, thus making it a more affordable place to live than its Manitoba competitors.
“When we looked here in Red Deer we found a significant amount of properties that fit our criteria, but were nervous initially because we had heard that Red Deer had a crime issue and to stay away from certain areas,” Wowk said. “In talking to some people that lived here and following some groups on Facebook, we learned that Red Deer as a whole, described as bad crime, was nothing compared to what we had seen or experienced in Kelowna.
“We didn’t have anything like that until probably February or March of this year when we had a little bit,” Russell said. “There was some pent up demand as a result of COVID, and then we had people moving back to Alberta from Ontario and BC, selling their houses for big prices down there and coming back here and buying very affordable housing.”