Friday, Oct. 13, 2023- Chilliwack discount heads west

☀️ High 17C

Good morning!

Canadians and Americans are more similar than we’d often like to admit. And yet, here and there, very noticeable differences pop up—especially when consuming American TV shows, movies, and books. I’m thinking about how it’s not uncommon for a TV show to have a character who forbids shoe-wearing in their home. The idea is always taken as a marker of that character’s uniqueness or peculiarity.

Obviously in Canada, shoes often get left at the door for clear dirt-related reasons. But I’m curious just how widespread that is. I’ve been in many homes as a journalist, and am sometimes told to leave my shoes on. But I get the sense that may be more out of politeness or convenience than anything. So let’s figure this out with the poll below. How many of you are indoor-shoe-wearers?

– Tyler

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WORTH KNOWING

🌤 Local forecast: Langley | Chilliwack | Abbotsford | Hope

🚘 Driving today? Check the current traffic situation via Google, and find DriveBC’s latest updates.

NEWS

A gap becomes a chasm

Once upon a time, in a simpler, cheaper era we called “2011,” your average house in Chilliwack would cost you about $340,000.

If you were looking for a home at that time, that price might not have struck you as cheap. But it would have looked appealing compared to homes further to the west, where a house in Langley would set you back an incredible $524,000. The difference between the two homes was $184,000 and a Chilliwack home was about 35% cheaper.

It was a different time.

Ten years later in 2021, The Current looked at the price differential and found that the typical Chilliwack house was, on average, more than a half-million dollars (or 41%) cheaper than a comparable building in Langley. As home prices had ballooned, the Chilliwack Discount, as we called it, had also more than doubled.

Revisiting the data two years later, the gap has grown even larger, leaving anyone moving west facing a more expensive market and further incentivizing eastward migration within the Lower Mainland.

• Today, Tyler revisits his 2021 story, and finds that the gap in house prices across the Fraser Valley has widened even further.

Related

Need to know

🏢 Data shows that owning rental buildings is profitable, despite current regulations [The Tyee]

✈️ A group of tourists from a Langley church is stuck in Israel; they hope to fly home Sunday [CTV]

🧑‍💼 Harrison village council met with an independent consultant in an effort to effectively govern the village [Agassiz-Harrison Observer]

💥 A crane truck crashed into a power pole yesterday, causing a power outage in north Langley [Langley Advance Times]

🛌 A proposed new five-storey hotel off of Lickman Road in Chilliwack received council’s blessing [Fraser Valley Today]

👉️ The BC Securities Commission is expected to set a hearing for a pair of brothers alleged to have orchestrated a stock scheme [Langley Advance Times]

🛴 Abbotsford Police arrested a man on a stolen e-scooter [Abbotsford News]

➡️ Impaired driving charges have been laid against one man in a fatal three-car crash in Abbotsford last year [Abbotsford News]

📃 The Abbotsford School District is trying to clear up any misinformation about SOGI resources after protests last week [Abbotsford School District]

🐿️ An impaired driver swerved to avoid a squirrel and crashed in Lake Errock; police told the squirrel to wear brightly-coloured clothing next time [Mission RCMP/Twitter]

🚁 One person was airlifted to hospital after sustaining a serious injury at a construction site in Chilliwack [Chilliwack Progress]

📸 CURRENT CAM: Congrats to Yvonne Hopp, who was the first to identify the new building at 200th Street and 56 Ave in Langley as the location of Wednesday’s Current Cam photo. (Yvonne also noticed that the Current Cam photo was also the subject of an item in Need to Know! That was unintentional. Good catch!)

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The Agenda

Meal expense cap set for Chilliwack school board trustees

The Chilliwack School District has a new policy that sets out how much board trustees will get for meals while travelling on district business.

The district’s new procedure says trustees will get a maximum of $53 per day to spend on food when travelling outside of Chilliwack. That includes $11 for breakfast, $17 for lunch, and $25 for dinner—though trustees can spend more than that if they have receipts and the approval of the budget manager.

Within Chilliwack, meals charged must also remain within the expense guidelines.

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SPONSORED BY ALL ABOUT EXPOS

A Taste of the Valley October 20 & 21

Experience the ultimate artisan market at ‘A Taste of the Valley’- October 20 and 21 at Chilliwack Heritage Park! Sip, sample & shop a fabulous collection of artisans offering food, drinks and more. Admission is $5 cash at the door. Click here for more information.

Catch up

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