From CTV News (Bell Media):
“It might seem pretty rare to find a house with an elevator, but chances are higher you might find one in Calgary these days.”
What an absurdly divisive title. As if every single boomer is buying an elevator right now specifically to spite other generations. Why not point out the more obvious demographic that is actually doing this: wealthy people. It was nothing to do with age and everything to do with how much disposable untaxed income you have lying around.
Without watching (ew video), imma assume the elevators are for the mobility impaired.
Pretty much, the first thing the interviewed couple mentions is that they’re building an elevator in order to keep living in their home as they grow older (and assumedly become impaired due to age).
It must be nice to have so much money that they can indulge their sentimentality like that.
Imagine having to move into a new house without stairs, they’d lose the will to live and die after a month
It might be a purely financial decision of “we want to keep living independently but we can’t afford to buy a different house than the one we locked in 40 years ago, so lets spend a few thousand putting in an elevator instead of spending hundreds of thousands changing houses” since some major cities have housing markets that are simply that extreme
My googling tells me:
The typical cost to install a home elevator in a two-story house ranges from $30,000 to $60,000 on average
Minimum cost: Around $20,000
Maximum cost: Up to $100,000 or more
National average: Approximately $48,000
My parents put in a stair lift. I’d expect more are doing something like that where they are a few thousand bucks. But you still need to be able to transfer to/from the seat. It doesn’t accommodate a wheelchair.
It’s not such an extravagant purchase when it’s the only way my father could make it up and down from his bedroom.
