Hello everyone! After five other articles in this series, today is where we wrap up with the topic of interest of property value.

Now, you may be confused about why this is the last thing to ask. “Shouldn’t this be the first thing to consider when looking for a home: how much I can afford? I also want to buy my home in a place which will grow in value.” While these are important questions, searching for a location based initially on price may result in stress in the longer term: once you are in your new home, you may find that simply paying a low price does not get you the things that keep you interested in the long term.

This post will be quite short compared to the other posts as there are just two real questions to ask.

What can you afford?

The first question is the obvious one: how much are you able to afford to purchase a vacant block and build your house? Remember to also include the price of drawing up designs and obtaining any permits.

McCauley has a variety of apartments for sale, which bring down its median home value to $230,000. Houses go for $260,000 and upwards. This represents a multiple of around six times the median household income of $43,000, which makes the prices reasonable.

What do you think will be the future value of your home?

This question is not really important. After all, you are buying your dream home and will likely stay there for life! But there may be circumstances which lead you to move, so making sure that you are able to sell your home and benefit would be great.

McCauley should always enjoy good growth due to its closeness to downtown, and also due to all the other factors discussed in previous articles. Custom-built homes also carry more value, reflecting the extra effort and attention given to making each room great.

McCauley enjoyed over 100% growth rate in house prices from 2005 to 2013, and may be poised to repeat this over the next 8-10 years.

Conclusion

And there you have it! Six things to consider when looking for your ideal location to build a home. After looking at transport, education, recreation, shopping, and demographics, you can look at the current and future prices of your neighbourhood to decide if it is your ideal base.

Evelina lives in McCauley and is the owner of Evelina Developments, which builds custom, luxury homes in Edmonton.