Once a rural community composed of dairy farms and ranches, Springbank, has now emerged as one of Canada’s richest neighbourhoods.
Take a trip out to the illustrious neighbourhood, located immediately west of Calgary, east of Highway 22, and south of the Bow River, and it’s easy to see why.
Dream mansions and ranches make up most of the residential units in the area.
Not a townhouse or apartment to be found.
Springbank was named one of the richest along with the prestigious Calgary neighbourhoods, Pinnacle Ridge, Bel Aire and Mount Royal by Canadian Business Magazine in June.
The magazine reported the average household income in Springbank is $340,000, with the average house sold for a balmy $1.1 million. To top that, the average net worth of Springbank residents came to a whopping $4.6 million.
That’s compared to Calgary’s southwest neighbourhood of Bel Aire. Canadian Business Magazine stated that its residents were worth an average of $4.3 million and could sell their home for an average of $1 million.
While the statistics are impressive, there is more than meets the eye, according to the Calgary Real Estate Board.
“While there are several pockets of homes that are on the higher end of the price spectrum, they do not necessarily represent the entire Springbank area,” said Ann-Marie Lurie, chief economist for the Calgary Real Estate Board.
“Springbank residents typically have homes that are on larger parcels of land of one acre or more, something that is rare if you are purchasing a home within city limits.”
In addition, the area boasts a location just outside of Calgary’s limits and residents’ commute time to the downtown core can be on par to those living in the north or south end of the city. Springbank resident also benefit from the use of Calgary’s west-end amenities and have their own schools and recreational centre within the community.
It’s one of the many reasons Rocky View County Councillor Kim Magnuson moved to the area in 2000.
“It’s an interesting mixture of everything,” Magnuson said. “Springbank is mainly acreages, but there are still some farms. It’s a very friendly community, but it’s also an oasis. It’s a place you can go after work to forget about work.”
As for the demographics, Magnuson admits there isn’t really an identifying trend.
“The majority of the people that live out here are involved in the oil and gas industry, “ Magnuson said. “It’s an escape from work to get away from the city.”
Statistics in this article were provided to Canadian Business Magazine, from Environics Analytics, which specialize in collecting data and statistics.
