Chilliwack is morphing from a farming community into B.C.’s version of Penturbia, the idealistic U.S.-born concept of suburban living. Penturbia is defined by affordable housing, high-paying jobs, green space and population growth, all boxes ticked off in Chilliwack. The benchmark price of Chilliwack detached house is around $450,000, less than half of Metro Vancouver’s benchmark of $1.2 million. Chilliwack’s economy ranked among the fastest growing mid-sized economies in the country between 2005 and 2012, with average annual increases in GDP of 6.2 per cent, according to the Conference Board of Canada. Buoyed by a revitalization of its downtown, an increase in public-sector and employment, single family home construction and several big industrial park developments, Chilliwack’s trajectory is set to continue.
