Moving to Vancouver BC from the UK - need some answers to various questions!

Question

We're moving to Vancouver from the UK next year under the skilled worker programme. We are a family of 4 (we have 2 girls 11 next yr and 1 next yr) I have various questions that I cant seem to find the answer to on the Internet.

What is the best and worst areas?

What is the average price for childcare?

What is the average price of travel (bus travel, train or which ever public transport etc)

Average price of food from the supermarket?

Any help would be appreciated.

Answer 1

Best Area:  North Shore for upscale housing.  But prices are high.  However, Port Moody and Port Coquitlam are the best for being able to get around Vancouver so that you can avoid the bridges that cause the traffic back ups.

Worst Area:  Central downtown - lots of crime, street people and drugs on Hastings street.  Burnaby is also not really a nice place to live.

Child care: Try this website: http://www.vch.ca/environmental/licensin...

Travel: Local Vancouver transit can be found here: http://www.translink.bc.ca/default.asp

Food:  The majority of groceries are found in Save-on, Safeway, IGA, Extra Foods, Superstore, however local markets in your area are good.  It's fun to go to Granville Island for a Saturday market - tons of stuff to do there.  Milk average price - Gallon - 4.00.  Bread average price - 2.00 to 3.00. Butter average price - 4.00.  China Town has lots of really great stores and foods that you can't get anywhere else.  There are many ethnic areas throughout the city that you can get specific foods. But for British items there are Marks and Spencer or go to Victoria on Vancouver Island where the Brits live in abundance.  This website offers some of the grocery stores:   http://www.userinstinct.com/bc/vancouver...

Hope this helps.

Answer 2

If you want to visit Vancouver, you can check out this site:

www.thecompletevancouvertour.com

may be helpful

Answer 3

I'll try to get you started.

You can search Canadian real estate prices on mls.ca. Same as everywhere, usually the most expensive areas are the 'best'. The best and the worst aren't all that far apart in the Vancouver area. Best to figure out what area fits how you live, what you can afford, what gives you the shortest commute, if you have requirements for schools, and so on. There are good family neighbourhoods all over Vancouver, Burnaby, Coquitlam, Maple Ridge, in Langley and Surrey and other towns in the Fraser Valley, on the North Shore which is what North and West Vancouver are collectively called.

Can't tell you anything about childcare rates.

There is no commuter train around Vancouver except for the West Coast Express from downtown to Maple Ridge area. Or, I think they have joined two towns and now call it Ridge Meadows. Everything else is bus or light rail(Skytrain) travel. Search 'translink', that will take you to the public transit company which operates all public transit in BC.

The price of food is a little hard to comment on, and I'm single so can only begin to guess at how much it costs to feed a family. I don't have a grocery budget as such, just try to get good value for my money. From other comments here on yahoo, it sounds as if the price of groceries in Canada and the UK is about the same overall. Some things cost more, some less. Food can be very expensive or not, depending on your tastes and choices. The average working family is not going to find food prices to be a big problem.

In Vancouver, housing is what can be the big problem in a family budget, and lately the price of fuel has some people feeling the pinch. Our fuel prices are still less than those in the UK but in Canada it's not unusual for someone to drive 50 miles or more to work and back, and often there is no reasonable alternative to driving.

Not knowing what your skilled work is, it's hard to comment, but if your work is something that would let you work elsewhere than Vancouver, somewhere that has lower housing prices, you should consider that.