Getting to know Calgary
If you’re going to be active in the Calgary real estate market, you should probably know some information about it. We’d like to help you, so here’s some information about this great city.
Calgary is located in the southern portion of the Canadian province of Alberta. With a population of almost 1.2 million, people, it’s the largest city in Alberta. It’s a somewhat hilly place, since it’s located at the transition zone between the Canadian Rockies foothills and the Canadian prairies. It sits directly amidst an area of foothills and high plains, approximately 80 kilometers (50 miles) east of the east plains of the Canadian Rockies. Its elevation is a little over 1,000 meters (almost 3,500 feet) above sea level. With a land area (over 700 km2, or a little over 280 square miles) that exceeds the larger-populated Toronto, Calgary has plenty of real estate opportunities.
Calgary is an emerging global city. It has rich neighborhoods and a diverse ethnicity. It’s the fifth largest city in Canada, but ranks third if you take into account its outlying neighborhoods. As a matter of fact, since Calgary is just 300 kilometers (200 miles) south of Edmonton, the narrowly-populated area between the two cities is known as the “Calgary-Edmonton Corridor.” Between Toronto and Vancouver, Calgary is the largest metropolitan area.
Two major rivers run through Calgary. The Bow River, which is the largest one, flows from the west to the south. The Elbow River flows northwards from the south and converges with the Bow River in the city’s downtown area. The downtown area is the most populated, with surrounding neighborhoods of decreasing density. It’s more populated in the downtown area, and decreases the farther from the center of the city as you go. Unlike most cities with a large metropolitan area, most of Calgary’s suburbs are incorporated into it. (Exceptions are the following nearby cities: Airdrie to the north, Cochrane to the northwest, Strathmore to the east, and the Springbank and Bearspaw acreages to the west.) Okotoks, which lies a short distance to the south, is also considered a suburb of Calgary, although it’s not technically a part of the city’s metropolitan area.
Calgary is a growing city, ideal for the real estate market. One of the reasons for that is that the city keeps annexing its neighboring towns to keep up with the population growth. That, of course, is good news for the Calgary real estate market.