A new Canadian motor-vehicle survey revealed that Vancouverites are choosing to leave their cars at home (Fig. 11) 23% more often than they did 9 years ago. Which is why it should come as no surprise that communities with easy access to amenities are becoming an ever more popular choice when looking for a new home.

Walkscore.com is a tool that will help you determine the proximity of amenities to the home you are considering. The focus of walkscore.com is on walkability — or how easy it is to live without a car in a particular location — however the website offers other great information to help you with your home search. Walkscore.com incorporates a transit score, bike score and crime rate by location to assess both liveability and walkability of a neighbourhood.

The term walkability was coined to measure pedestrian friendliness within a one kilometer radius of any location in North America. The walkscore.com system measures a set of criteria within a location and evaluates the accessibility to schools, parks, coffee shops, medical clinics and transit hubs. Search by address, neighbourhood or city and a number from 0 – 100 (100 being the best) will appear, to provide the walkscore for your location.

Vancouver is at the forefront of walkability with a score of 78 out of 100 on walkscore.com. Runner-up for Canada’s most walkable city are Toronto (71) and Montreal (70). Vancouver’s top walkscore neighbourhoods are downtown, (96) Kitsilano, (89) Fairview, (89) Mount Pleasant (88) and Commercial Drive (78). Aside from the pure enjoyment of strolling through Vancouver’s many beautiful neighborhoods, there are a few added perks to living in a walkable neighbourhood:

• STAY FIT There is a correlation between a community’s score and the level of physical fitness of local populations. People who live in high walkscore communities on average weigh 6-10 pounds less than in low walkscore communities.
• BE INVOLVED IN YOUR COMMUNITY Studies have shown that for every ten minutes spent commuting by car, a person’s time spent participating in community activities falls by 10%. Walkscores can be indicative of close-knit communities where you have the opportunity to establish great relationships and enjoy lower crime rates.
• REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT Living in a walkable community reduces your carbon foot print and connects you back to the environment. When you walk, you use less fossil fuel and help remove congestion from city and road ways.
• SAVE YOUR PENNIES Choosing a walkable community is a good financial investment and also reduces your living expenses. Cars are the second largest household expense in Canada, when you live in a highly walkable community, you can significantly reduce commuting costs.

Consider walkability when purchasing real estate for the well-being of your finances, lifestyle and health. However, don’t ignore up and coming neighborhoods that may not have a high walkscore yet. There are great presale opportunities to be had in neighbourhoods where new infrastructure is still being been built. Neighbourhoods like South-East False Creek and the Oval Village in Richmond wouldn't have had great walkscores just a few years ago but are now 92 and 81 respectively. When visiting presentation centres, be sure to ask the sales team about the future amenities and transit routes and watch those walkscores soar!