Living Near the University of Alberta: Neighbourhoods by Drive Time, With Real Sold Prices

The University of Alberta's North Campus is one of Edmonton's largest workplaces — the university itself, plus the University of Alberta Hospital, the Stollery Children's Hospital, the Cross Cancer Institute and the Mazankowski Alberta Heart Institute all on one campus. The neighbourhoods in the first table put you within about a 15-minute drive: Garneau and Strathcona are effectively walkable, and McKernan and Belgravia sit right across the river flats from campus. Every community below is banded by estimated off-peak drive time, with the single-family and condo medians that actually sold there in the last 12 months.

Who buys for this campus: professors and staff who want a walk-to-work character home; health-care staff on shift rotations at the four hospitals; investors and parents buying for students, because the Garneau–Strathcona–McKernan ring rents as reliably as anywhere in Edmonton; and downsizers who want the Whyte Avenue and river valley lifestyle with the LRT at the door. Sold figures throughout: Paragon MLS® sales, November 9, 2025 – November 8, 2026.

About 15 minutes or less from the U of A

Community	Est. drive	Single-family median	Condo median	Sales, last 12 mo	Median days on market
Wîhkwêntôwin	~8 min	—	$176,000	345	46
Strathcona	~8 min	$561,000	$208,000	118	29.5
Garneau	~6 min	$605,000	$265,000	108	43
Bonnie Doon	~11 min	$581,400	$272,500	94	20.5
Queen Mary Park	~11 min	$403,500	$152,000	91	39
Parkview	~8 min	$847,500	—	75	20
Glenora	~10 min	$1,045,000	$117,500	66	34
Queen Alexandra	~8 min	$518,000	$226,250	59	25
Allendale	~10 min	$515,100	—	58	33.5
Belgravia	~8 min	$865,000	$380,000	50	26.5
McKernan	~6 min	$677,000	—	46	25.5
Grovenor	~12 min	$530,000	—	45	25

Featured from 33 neighbourhoods with sales in this band. This is the premium ring — Glenora, Parkview, Belgravia, Laurier Heights and Windsor Park carry four of the city's highest detached medians — but the band has a second story: Wîhkwêntôwin's condos (345 sales at a $176,000 median) and Queen Mary Park are across the river on a direct LRT ride, and they are how most staff actually afford to live this close.

Roughly 15 to 25 minutes from the U of A

Community	Est. drive	Single-family median	Condo median	Sales, last 12 mo	Median days on market
Griesbach	~23 min	$593,000	$359,000	115	38
Ottewell	~18 min	$484,600	—	104	18.5
Glastonbury	~24 min	$525,000	$286,500	96	28
Twin Brooks	~22 min	$645,000	$408,000	82	23
Terwillegar Towne	~23 min	$549,900	$314,000	82	21.5
Caernarvon	~24 min	$412,000	$177,000	80	22
Terra Losa	~17 min	—	$214,450	74	37
Kiniski Gardens	~24 min	$380,000	—	73	19
Lymburn	~20 min	$412,500	$202,900	73	25
Haddow	~22 min	$707,500	$257,500	69	19
Kensington	~21 min	$365,000	$231,500	64	20.5
Calder	~18 min	$355,000	—	63	23

Featured from 72 neighbourhoods with sales in this band. The southwest family belt dominates: Terwillegar Towne, Twin Brooks, Haddow and Glastonbury give you detached homes mostly in the $525,000–$710,000 range on a straight run up Terwillegar Drive or across the Quesnell Bridge — and Ottewell and the east side come in cheaper on the same clock.

Roughly 25 to 35 minutes from the U of A

Community	Est. drive	Single-family median	Condo median	Sales, last 12 mo	Median days on market
Keswick	~33 min	$534,900	$355,000	264	44
Walker	~32 min	$480,500	$255,000	201	35
Secord	~27 min	$535,000	$325,500	183	34
The Uplands	~27 min	$513,000	—	180	53
The Hamptons	~26 min	$504,950	$262,500	172	27
Ambleside	~27 min	$592,500	$222,000	143	35
Kinglet Gardens	~31 min	$499,900	—	141	43
Klarvatten	~31 min	$519,000	$274,000	138	34
Allard	~31 min	$541,250	$224,500	117	35
Glenridding Heights	~31 min	$490,000	$260,100	113	28
MacEwan	~25 min	$494,800	$177,700	94	28.5
Carlton	~27 min	$560,000	$220,000	84	26.5

Featured from 69 neighbourhoods with sales in this band. New-build country: Keswick (the city's highest-volume community last year, 264 sales), Walker, Secord, the Hamptons and Ambleside. From here the drive is a Henday-and-river-crossing trip, and the honest comparison is against the South Campus and Century Park LRT park-and-rides — many U of A staff in this band drive to a station, not to campus.

The LRT is the real campus commute

University Station and Health Sciences/Jubilee Station sit on the Capital and Metro lines, and campus parking is expensive and wait-listed — so for this node more than any other in this series, price the train before the drive. Southgate, South Campus/Fort Edmonton Park and Century Park stations feed campus directly; Bonnie Doon and Strathearn connect on the Valley Line. This site's station guides (Homes Near University Station, Homes Near South Campus Station, Homes Near Century Park Station) break those catchments down street by street.

Buying for a U of A or hospital commute — what to check

Shift work changes which band fits. Hospital rotations start before LRT peak service and end after it; at 6 AM the 25–35 minute band genuinely drives in 25 minutes, which is why so many AHS staff land in the southwest belt.

Student-adjacent streets price differently. In Garneau and McKernan, legal suites and rental demand support prices that pure owner-occupier math would not — run the rental numbers before you call a home overpriced, or before you assume a bargain.

Check the parking answer, not just the drive. A 10-minute drive plus a wait-listed parkade loses to a 20-minute LRT ride with a station at each end.

How these drive times were estimated — please read this

Drive times are estimates: each neighbourhood is represented by the centre of its boundary (Edmonton neighbourhood boundaries, City of Edmonton open data via EPSB), road distance is approximated from straight-line distance, and times assume off-peak conditions at typical urban speeds. Your address, your route and your hour will differ — winter weather and rush hour add time. Treat the bands as a shortlisting tool, not a promise, and verify with a real drive or a maps check at your commute hour. Sold medians are exact, from Paragon MLS® data for November 9, 2025 – November 8, 2026; a "—" means that property type had too few sales in that community to publish a median.

Either way, verify the commute first. Call Travis Bannert at 780-720-8240 — tell him where on campus you work and he will build the shortlist around your actual start time, your budget and the sold prices above, not a citywide average.

Travis Bannert, Realtor® | Bridge Realty Group, Maxwell Progressive Realty
780-720-8240 | bridgerealtygroup.ca

Sources for this page

Sold figures: Paragon MLS® sold data, November 9, 2025 – November 8, 2026, counted by neighbourhood as described above.
Neighbourhood boundaries: City of Edmonton open data (EPSB neighbourhood boundary file, October 29, 2026 version).
Campus and hospitals: University of Alberta and Alberta Health Services facility listings, ualberta.ca and albertahealthservices.ca.
Transit: Edmonton Transit Service (ETS) LRT lines and park-and-ride, edmonton.ca/ets.

Frequently asked questions

What are the closest neighbourhoods to the University of Alberta?
Garneau and Windsor Park border the campus; McKernan, Belgravia and Strathcona are within about a 10-minute drive or a short bike ride. All carry premium detached prices — Garneau's single-family median last year was $605,000 and Windsor Park's was over $1.1M.

Where do U of A and hospital staff actually afford to live?
By the sold data: condos in Wîhkwêntôwin ($176,000 median) and Queen Mary Park ($152,000) on a direct LRT ride, or detached homes in the 15–25 minute southwest belt — Terwillegar Towne ($549,900 median) and Twin Brooks ($645,000).

Is buying near the U of A a good rental investment?
The Garneau–Strathcona–McKernan ring has the city's deepest student and health-staff rental pool, and legal suites are common there. It is the most landlord-tested market in Edmonton — but prices already reflect that, so underwrite the actual rents, not the reputation.

How accurate are these commute times?
They are off-peak estimates from each neighbourhood's centre, meant for shortlisting. Rush hour, winter conditions and your exact address change them — always test the drive at your real commute hour before buying.