Victoria's Cheapest House

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VICTORIA -- Just off Douglas Street you'll find what's billed as a 'character' home on Princess Avenue. It is the most affordable house in Victoria, Saanich, or Esquimalt.
In fact the asking price just dropped, by $70,000, to only $285,000. "I think the location is pretty obviously the major negative against this home. The lot is almost non-existent, the house is very small, and it's 100 years old as well" says Realtor Marko Juras.
We weren't permitted to take a look inside, but Juras bets the person who buys this home won't be living in it. "Mostly for future development purposes, it's close to downtown."
Once we break the $300,000 barrier, we end up on Craigflower Road in Esquimalt. A 99-year old up/down duplex is vacant. The buyer is encouraged to 'bring renovation ideas' as the building is in a 'very poor state of repair.'
A home on Scott Street in Victoria was listed earlier this month at an attractive $329,900, but with a word of cautionary advice from the listing realtor: 'This Fernwood fixer-upper is not for the faint of heart.'
The home actually sold quickly, for above the asking price. Juras took a client through for a look -- and wasn't impressed. "It's getting to the point where it was not livable anymore."
If you have an extra $20,000, and want to buy in Saskatoon, you can go from un-livable to a newly built three-bedroom, with dark hardwood and maple in the kitchen.
Or in Halifax, fork out another $5,000 more, and a three-year old six-bedroom home is yours, if you can squeeze into its 2500 square feet.
In Greater Victoria, even with 4600 listings on the market, slow sales, and all signs pointing to a buyer's market, the average price of a home is more than $619,000 so far this year. Ask someone on the street why that is, and you'll get a variation of a familiar theme.
"If you want to live here, you've got to pay. Pay to play, pay to live."
But for many here, that means renting.
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