Aug
11
Real Estate Notes:Calgary Ranked as Top Investment City in Canada
Calgary, a Western Canadian city with a population of 988,000, is considered the best site in Canada for real estate investors.
Real Estate Notes
The location was chosen by member of The Real Estate Investment Network which, coincidentally, is also headquartered in Calgary, the third largest metropolitan area in Canada.
The Financial Post, published from Don Mills, Ontario, just outside of Toronto, was intrigued by the Top 10 selections offered by REIN.
“Few are major cities and some (of the rankings) are surprising,” according to the FP.
REIN president Don R. Campbell tells the FP the ranking results are based on factors such as planned transportation improvements, “or if the area’s average income, population growth and job growth are increasing faster than the provincial average.”
Surprisingly, nothing east of Ontario shows up on the list. Campbell tells the FP that while cities like Halifax, Saint John and Moncton “still provide decent returns,” the following top cities are ones that will outperform the national average between 2010 and 2015:
1. Calgary
Calgary is “poised to outperform the average by a wide margin,” says Campbell, making it the top-ranked city.
After two years of declining average resale housing prices, the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. has predicted they will increase year-over-year in 2010.
The REIN report credits the downturn to a much-needed correction, and that it was “economically impossible for the [Calgary] market to continue at the pace at which it was heading.”
But now that it is coming out of the recession, along with economies elsewhere, Calgary’s strengths in producing food, fuel and fertilizer will boost its growth.
“Calgary is in a unique economic and geographic position to take advantage of the direct and indirect jobs this increase in demand will create,” Mr. Campbell.
He adds that with strong in-migration and renewed affordability, the city provides a good buying window for long-term investors.
2. Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge, Ontario
REIN refers to Canada’s Technology Triangle as the “economic Alberta of Ontario.”
That means KWC is not only seen as the economic engine of the new Ontario economy, but also that it “will outperform all other major regions in eastern Canada,” Campbell says.
For indicators, he points to job growth, student growth and a new light rapid-transit system.
3. Edmonton
Edmonton sits near the top of the report’s list because of its future potential.
Calling it a “perennial overachieving market,” REIN says the city is a “growing market, [with] an increasing population, and a forward-looking leadership.”
It will also be the main benefactor of energy development in Western Canada, says Campbell, resulting in a “very affordable, strong rental market with strong in-migration from across Canada.”
Major infrastructure improvements, such as the ring road and LRT expansion, will be key.
4. Surrey, B.C.
British Columbia’s second-largest city is growing so fast it could become even bigger than Vancouver.
“Just a decade ago, it was known as the punch line to many a joke,” Campbell says.
But with two border crossings to the United States, links to five major highways, deep sea docks and four railways, Surrey is a prime location to do business, he says.
Although there may be a strong rental market, it’s a city that requires a closer examination, taking “neighborhoods and even the street’s characteristics into consideration when deciding where to purchase,” REIN cautions.