In Vancouver, $500k is more plausible. The minimum downpayment for >$1M properties is 20%, and the average selling price for a detached house in Metro Vancouver last month was $1.8M; in the City of Vancouver proper, it was well over $2M.
Hang on, I thought we were discussing whether the area is "closed off from those without at least quarter of a million dollars saved up". Isn't that the topic of this thread?
First of all, someone buys the below-average homes, right? So it's hardly "closed off" just because someone can't afford the mean (or median?) detached home value. What's the twentieth-percentile home value?
Second of all, what do detached home prices have to do with this? Live in a condo, like reasonable people do.
The minimum down payment for a 2 bedroom 2 bath condo in my East Van building would be around $40k.
