What makes living in Leduc a treasure

If the kind of home you've been dreaming about in Edmonton just isn't affordable, think about the short drive south to Leduc, population 30,000.

For every kilometre than you travel out of the Edmonton city limits, home prices drop by thousands of dollars. You might find yourself saving more then $60,000 on the kind of home you've been looking for.

It might make that daily commute worth it. It's all on four-lane highway and from the Anthony Henday it's only 10-minutes.

Check resale prices in a nice family-friendly community or consider a new neighbourhood like Southfork. It's on the east side of the highway in the south part of Leduc. Choose your lot and choose your builder and get into a single-family home for much less than you would in the city.

Leduc has all the amenities that you would expect to enjoy in Edmonton. There's the Leduc Rec Centre, a full service 309,000 square foot leisure centre with indoor and outdoor aquatic facilities, fitness centre and track, eight sheets of ice for curling and three NHL-sized rinks with seating. The Leduc Golf Club is also nearby.

Leduc has a minor sport community with hockey, lacrosse, soccer and basketball.

There are good schools in Leduc, and in the new Southfork community a new Catholic school just opened — Father Leduc, a kindergarten to Grade 8 school that students can walk to. That neighbourhood also has a spray park and a huge outdoor rink as well, with 4 km of walking paths though the community which connect to Leduc's 46 km of trails plus space allotted for community gardens. A skateboard park was constructed in 2007 and it has the deepest bowl in Alberta.

Telford Lake Recreation Area is next to William F. Lede Park and it's where the City of Leduc hosts special events such as the dragon boat races in the summer and ice racing events in the winter.

Shopping in Leduc is fantastic — you will rarely need to go into Edmonton for anything. A huge outlet mall with more than 100 brand stores. A new Costco is under construction as well. On the east side of the highway, Southfork Landing is another commercial complex which is being constructed.

One of the huge bonuses of living in Leduc, other than the super-affordability of the city, is the proximity to the Edmonton International Airport. For people who travel frequently, or work up north and fly in/fly out on a monthly rotation, imagine the time you'll spend in the car if you live in Leduc.

If you have some trepidation about leaving elderly parents in Edmonton while pursuing your dream of home ownership, there is a lovely retirement community in Leduc called Leduc Lifestyle Retirement Community on West Haven Drive in partnership with Alberta Health Services. There are four other assisted living facilities in the city.

There's a Performing Arts Centre with a 460-seat theatre with regularly hosts shows, events and concerts.

A family's health needs can be taken care of in Leduc with a community hospital, public health centre and an after-hours clinic.

Families feel safe in Leduc. In a poll conducted in 2016 by the local paper, 54% of citizens said they felt safe and 40% of those people believed it was safer in Leduc than it was in Edmonton.

In a 2017 poll taken by Qualico Communities, residents were asked to identify some of the treasures of living in Leduc. Some of the aforementioned amenities were brought up, but overwhelmingly the major feature of the city is the marvelous sense of community. There's a spirit that makes families feels at home visitors welcome. It's a thriving community and certainly a place that new home buyers should definitely check out.