Stamp duty is one off payment on the purchase of a house or land. Here in Au mostly its not payable for first home buyer or have discount. but yearly every household pays council rates that are nt alot…our rates are about 1200 per year. This is it for primary residence . For investments if land is more than certain limit than there is land tax payable.
Re: What would half a million buy…
Re-read khatti’s post for my town
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For $516000 you can get 180 square feet sized ‘mosquito’ units in Hong Kong.
June 3 2015 WSJ by Isabella Steger
Re: What would half a million buy…
I present to you, Vancouver. Crack Shack or Mansion?
Not sure if this is still true but all the wealthy Chinese seem to prefer living there. Who can blame them? Moderate temperature, water in the summer and skiing the Rockies in the winter, makes it a pretty sweet place to live.
Re: What would half a million buy…
Mujhe to topic ki hi samjh nahi aii..
Re: What would half a million buy…
Maybe I am ignorant but I thought there were no property taxes in TX
Re: What would half a million buy…
Of course we have property taxes in Texas (and high ones at that lol!)…I think what you’re thinking of is that Texas has no *state income tax, *which is one of the reasons the cost of living is relatively lower and makes it such a desirable place to move to! 
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You guys all seem rich. No way I would be able to buy a $ 600-700k house and say sign me up. In my part of the US, if we live in a 2500 square foot house we are doing well. And if someone lives in a $400,000 house they are quite well to do. $300,000 houses mean that you are respectable around 2200 square feet or more. Yes, there are people we know who live in the million dollar houses too of couse and they are plenty of desis in fact who live like that but I am talking averages here.
Re: What would half a million buy…
I think it depends on where in the U.S. you live. Like ehl e chamman pointed out, in the Los Angeles area, $500K-$600K gets you 1000 sqft in the ghetto…Toronto is also very expensive…like New York & San Fran…but salaries are also more in these localities, right? You can’t compare that to the Midwest or Southern States. I don’t think that someone who can buy a $600K house in Toronto is considered rich by any means. That is there reality and housing situation where they live, work and earn.
Cost of living and housing prices are usually all correlated. In Texas, the cost of living and housing prices are relatively low, along with no state income tax, your money goes a long way here. The suburb of Dallas that I live in is considered affluent, but I by no means rich lol! Yes, we live in 3000+ sqft home, but again, that is the norm here for a family of 5, and housing is cheap compared to other parts of the country.
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The trend is to downsize houses. Which means less energy needed to hear or cool.
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Or, as most builders are starting to do now, buy a home with a low HERS score.
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Laiha..i live in Brampton North Area. And houses are still in 550,000 to 600,000 range. Our house is around 3000 square foot. Pretty decent size. I am projecting that prices will go more up next year as..there is so much construction and development near Mississauga Road..with new big mall coming up in the area.
Re: What would half a million buy…
Muzna baji, houses around Brampton North are in that price range. But like i was telling Laiha..that prices will probably go up most likely.
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Yes…Brampton North, particularly as far north as Sandalwood is definitely not considered Toronto.
In Toronto it is highly unlikely that you will find a 3000 square foot home (not including the basement) for less than $1M.
Even in Mississauga the prices are close to $1M for that size.
Re: What would half a million buy…
Invest/
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A one bedroom flat lol.
Re: What would half a million buy…
I kanal house 