Interesting. Without all the actual data I’d have to hypothesize the big cities finally hit a tipping point, and these drops haven’t hit the smaller towns that the people priced out by the cities have been moving to.
I doubt that rents will fall all that much outside of the big cities. Unfortunately, the cities have also become more of a playground for the wealthy, wealthy people in denial (children of homeowners that will receive assistance to join the property market), and a home for the unhoused and people in precarious living situations.
If you’re not in either ends of the social classes, there isn’t as much of an incentive to remain, since most leisurely activities and meeting areas are crowded, behind an expensive paywall (if not at the gate, then the activities themselves), or they’re outside the city anyways.
Going out for dinner and/or drinks, street festivals/special events that take over part of an area, which are more social activities rather than leisurely.
There has always been some sort of a premium involved, and anything “free” is seriously overcrowded.
I’ve made the move from the big city to a smaller one and it’s been much less stressful, with cheaper rent being very enticing as well.
While there is some degree of car dependency involved, there isn’t a lot of long drives needed to get anywhere, really, with traffic being much lighter than what I’m used to.
It sounds like you really hate crowds. That’s fair, but I’d point out that the other people showing up to form the crowds shows the average person doesn’t quite as much.
Small cites can do transit, in theory. It only gets difficult once you get to small towns, and only impossible at hamlet size. You just need enough people to come close to filling the route.
I lived in a small town. There were annual events for the community and multiple churches. There were also expensive outdoor hobbies like skiing in the winter.
That was literally everything.
Cities have the issue of there being so many things going on it’s hard to chose and quality free and low cost events have a hard time breaking through the noise. But things like this are the exclusive privilege of existing in cities:
I live in a small town. Same. I’m not going to lie, there’s a couple events I look forward to, but it’s still very limited. (And woe be to you if you’re niche in a way that’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby. The gay scene is going to be small and mostly closeted)
TBF if you have aggressively common tastes you wouldn’t miss anything in a small town, and the property prices are lower. If you’re farming or something like that you just get used to driving to the nearest city and town for literally everything, and bear the expense and inconvenience of it. AFAIK if you’re a fur trapper in the bush you’re a fur trapper in the bush and that’s it.
Basically, there’s a reason cities grew up in the first place.
I’m not so sure about the lower prices thing. Gas prices were higher, grocery prices were way higher due to lack of competition and remoteness, and house prices were high due to a total lack of development and it being a somewhat touristy area.
Shoot, I did do a ninja edit to “property prices”. Maybe you loaded it first.
The grocery prices are madness, and my local place was selling almost-rotten produce until recently. Gas can be cheaper or more expensive depending on other factors. It’s still so much more expensive in the city; I know because I desperately want to move and keep track.
and house prices were high due to a total lack of development and it being a somewhat touristy area.
Yeah, Banff or Canmore would not be cheap. If you’re in the depressing middle of nowhere the story changes.
Interesting. Without all the actual data I’d have to hypothesize the big cities finally hit a tipping point, and these drops haven’t hit the smaller towns that the people priced out by the cities have been moving to.
I doubt that rents will fall all that much outside of the big cities. Unfortunately, the cities have also become more of a playground for the wealthy, wealthy people in denial (children of homeowners that will receive assistance to join the property market), and a home for the unhoused and people in precarious living situations.
If you’re not in either ends of the social classes, there isn’t as much of an incentive to remain, since most leisurely activities and meeting areas are crowded, behind an expensive paywall (if not at the gate, then the activities themselves), or they’re outside the city anyways.
What kind of leisurely activities are you thinking of? Cities have the best libraries, art exhibits and niche hobby groups.
Going out for dinner and/or drinks, street festivals/special events that take over part of an area, which are more social activities rather than leisurely.
There has always been some sort of a premium involved, and anything “free” is seriously overcrowded.
I’ve made the move from the big city to a smaller one and it’s been much less stressful, with cheaper rent being very enticing as well.
While there is some degree of car dependency involved, there isn’t a lot of long drives needed to get anywhere, really, with traffic being much lighter than what I’m used to.
It sounds like you really hate crowds. That’s fair, but I’d point out that the other people showing up to form the crowds shows the average person doesn’t quite as much.
Small cites can do transit, in theory. It only gets difficult once you get to small towns, and only impossible at hamlet size. You just need enough people to come close to filling the route.
I lived in a small town. There were annual events for the community and multiple churches. There were also expensive outdoor hobbies like skiing in the winter.
That was literally everything.
Cities have the issue of there being so many things going on it’s hard to chose and quality free and low cost events have a hard time breaking through the noise. But things like this are the exclusive privilege of existing in cities:
https://mitchellartgallery.macewan.ca/artbus
I live in a small town. Same. I’m not going to lie, there’s a couple events I look forward to, but it’s still very limited. (And woe be to you if you’re niche in a way that’s more of a lifestyle than a hobby. The gay scene is going to be small and mostly closeted)
TBF if you have aggressively common tastes you wouldn’t miss anything in a small town, and the property prices are lower. If you’re farming or something like that you just get used to driving to the nearest city and town for literally everything, and bear the expense and inconvenience of it. AFAIK if you’re a fur trapper in the bush you’re a fur trapper in the bush and that’s it.
Basically, there’s a reason cities grew up in the first place.
I’m not so sure about the lower prices thing. Gas prices were higher, grocery prices were way higher due to lack of competition and remoteness, and house prices were high due to a total lack of development and it being a somewhat touristy area.
Shoot, I did do a ninja edit to “property prices”. Maybe you loaded it first.
The grocery prices are madness, and my local place was selling almost-rotten produce until recently. Gas can be cheaper or more expensive depending on other factors. It’s still so much more expensive in the city; I know because I desperately want to move and keep track.
Yeah, Banff or Canmore would not be cheap. If you’re in the depressing middle of nowhere the story changes.
It was Blairmore in CNP.
I hate driving so the prospect of driving half an hour to get groceries was torture.
My condo has 3 grocery stores within walking distance and 3 low cost grocers within biking distance.
I didn’t appreciate that until I moved away lol
Yep, no car is what makes the math work even with roomates, haha.