Edmonton Real Estate Investor: Edmonton

Edmonton makes World’s Best Cities Top 100 list for 1st time - "For the first time, Edmonton has found itself on a list ranking the best cities in the world.

Edmonton came in at No. 60 on the World’s Best Cities 2018 list, which is compiled by global consulting firm Resonance Consultancy.

The Top 100 cities are chosen based on six key categories: place, product, programming, people, prosperity and promotion.

Edmonton scored higher in the people, place and prosperity categories, while falling short on the remaining three criteria." Read more

Red ink rising: Economic experts spar over solutions to Alberta's growing debt - "Call it the battle of the bottom line, a red ink rumble sure to take centre stage leading up to Alberta’s next provincial election.

Alberta’s finance minister insists the province has the best balance sheet in the country and is sticking with a plan to balance the budget by 2024. But critics paint a far bleaker picture, arguing the NDP is crippling Alberta’s economy through a muddled strategy that won’t effectively address its ballooning debt.

Government estimates — projecting debt to reach $71.1 billion in three years — could be the best-case scenario, says a recent report by the University of Calgary’s School of Public Policy.

Penned by former Saskatchewan finance minister Janice MacKinnon and economist Jack Mintz, the report suggests Alberta’s March budget was based on “optimistic assumptions” about the price of oil.

The province pegged oil at US$68 per barrel by 2020, considerably higher than the Moody’s Investors Service forecast of US$40 to US$60 per barrel. West Texas Intermediate closed last week at US$55.64." Read More

Made-in-Alberta action plan unveiled to protect 7,000 oil and gas jobs - "Canada’s leading oil and gas industry lobby group says a “made-in-Alberta solution” to reduce methane emissions rather than proposed federal regulations could mitigate the number of job losses in the province over the coming decade.

Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers president and CEO Tim McMillan said even though its five-point plan released Monday would still cost the oil and gas industry $700 million over eight years, it would protect 7,000 jobs, inject $710 million in capital and boost the province’s gross domestic product by $2.5 billion.

The plan, which MacMillan dubbed as the “most cost-effective, but also the most jobs effective” way of meeting reduction goals, centres on the province and industry working collaboratively to create an equivalency agreement with the federal government." Read More

Alberta housing leads nation: CMHC - "The economy in Alberta has been improving and is expected to be one of the leaders in economic growth," "That will naturally support the housing market."Richard Cho, senior market analyst with CMHC's prairie division

Everything you wanted to know about Edmonton - Here is a great site about people living in Edmonton. Lots of good facts and feedback from real Edmontonians. Great if you are thinking of making the move out west.

Edmonton's job market among hottest in Canada - "Edmonton’s 4.5-per-cent unemployment rate ranked third among Canadian census metropolitan areas, behind Kelowna’s 4.1 per cent and Regina’s 4.2 per cent. Calgary, at 4.6, was fourth.
“The Edmonton economy is just banging away on all cylinders,” said John Rose, the City of Edmonton’s chief economist."

Not real estate related but wonderful all the same CLICK HERE

The vision of Edmonton as a thriving arts community, a clean environment, with big beautiful parks, a powerful economy and a unique look was compiled by over 2,200 citizens with a common goal in mind- Edmonton by 2040.

“We hope this vision will allow the flexibility, in those interim steps, to get to that point, but we should always want to get to that point,” “My assumption is that most (future) councils will want to make environment sustainable, most will want to have a good, multi-cultural community, they might have different steps in getting there, but they would still want to get there.” Mayor Stephen Mandel

Sounds like a beautiful place and I would love to live there in my, gulp, late-sixties.

Another feather in the city's cap...

Edmonton was given the title of Number 1 metro area in Western Canada for business investment, this is based on the number of capital projects and expansions taking place in the region says Edmonton Economic Development Corp (EEDC).

Alberta comes in first as the most competitive province in Canada.

“A hot economy, cost-competitiveness and support for research and innovation combine to make Edmonton an attractive location for businesses and careers to thrive,” said Ron Gilbertson, president and CEO of Edmonton Economic Development Corp."

To Read The Rest Of The Article From Alberta Index Click Here

Edmonton leads the nation in highest year over year employment growth from June 2006 to June 2007.

"In terms of year-over-year employment growth, Edmonton (+7.0%) is currently the front runner, followed by Saskatoon (+6.4%) and Abbotsford (+5.7%). Montréal (+3.3%) is currently creating jobs faster that both Vancouver (+2.8%) and Toronto (+2.0%). Two cities known for their government employment are recording job losses, Ottawa-Gatineau (-1.3%) and Québec City (-1.5%)." Alex Carrick - Chief Economist, CanaData

The city is has had increasing demand for skilled labour for the Alberta Oil Sands and the province's outstanding economy.

Edmonton ranked third in Canada for jobless rate, Victoria, B.C and Calgary, AB were first and second.

"On the jobless front, Victoria (3.2%) is leading the nation with an exceptionally low unemployment rate, followed closely by Alberta’s two major centres, Calgary (3.5%) and Edmonton (3.8%). Saguenay and Windsor (auto sector layoffs) have the highest unemployment rates at this time (9.0% and 9.4% respectively." Alex Carrick.

Alberta's boom and subsequent labour shortages are slowing down attempts to improve Edmonton's stressed infrastructure.

"Potholes half a metre across and 10-cm deep are a nuisance on any street, and when they started dotting a major Edmonton corridor driven by more than 120,000 vehicles a day, the city started to act"

Edmonton's road department secured funding to fix the stretch of Whitemud Dr., then put the project out for tender and waited.

For the first time in history, there wasn't a single bid, said Joe Kabarchuk, director of roadways construction: "We were shocked."

If you are a contractor or skilled labourer you are sorely needed out west. The money is there but there is no one to pay it to.

"......we're going to add about $3.6 billion in new projects on top of the record number of $170 billion that is already out there," said Bill Stewart, association vice-president.

"So we're going to have to get some people to build all these projects."
Edmonton Sun

In the east the housing prices may be leveling off but in the west there is a whole different market.

"CIBC senior economist Benjamin Tal said the gap between the west and the rest of Canada is so pronounced that there really is no such thing as a national housing market.

“Once you take the west out of the picture you see the levelling off in prices,” said Mr. Tal.

Click Here For Full Article

Edmonton the oil rich capital is shrugging it`s cowboy image, unless of course you are thinking of Broke Back Mountain (which was actually filmed in Alberta). I was recently reading a travel article The Out Traveler: Canada's Top 5 gay cities and Edmonton ranks number 4.

"A fresh crop of smoke-free gay and lesbian bars and clubs teems with life in the burgeoning gay village of Jasper Avenue, a two-block area with half a dozen gay businesses. Staff shirts in Prism proclaim good girls go to heaven; bad girls go to Prism, although as it's the only girl bar in town, it seems all girls go to Prism."

Edmonton is a young and bourgeoning city that is slowly changing its image, where Calgary was always seen as hipper, cooler and white collar, Edmonton is constantly diversifying and reinventing itself.

"Let the herds kick up a ruckus about Calgary; bold, assured Edmonton gallops way ahead, leaving the rest of Alberta in the dust."

Apparently there are a lot of shy millionaires in Edmonton. Edmonton - long known as the blue collar city is catching up to Calgary's white collar wealth.

"Compared to Calgary, Edmonton's wealth seems to be quiet and not as ostentatious," said Jon Hall, Edmonton Real Estate Board spokesman. "In Calgary, I would suspect people are buying homes a little more aggressively and they're more outgoing with their show of wealth." What`s a Million?

So far this year nine $1 million dollar homes have sold in Edmonton, not far off from the 2006 total of 17 $1 million dollar homes. That's not hard to believe with the 52% increase we saw last year and the 10% the city has done in the last three months.

I guess the people in Edmonton read "The Millionaire Next Door" or my earlier entry

Have you heard of the Business Ethics Pledge? I took it last year. Shel Horowitz, " a self employed guy working from a farmhouse"(his words not mine), is trying to make a difference. He has started the Business Ethics Pledge in hopes of getting 25,000 business leaders and influencers to take the pledge and create a business world where an "Enron" could never happen.

I heard him on a marketing tape and researched his site Business Ethics Pledge . We know we have ethics, integrity and we try never to work in the gray area but maybe we assume our clients know that, but maybe they don`t. Perhaps if we clearly state "Look this is where I am and what I believe", then perhaps from the beginning our clients will have that much more faith in us. Naive? I don`t know. It`s worth a shot.

The other reason I really like it is because what we pledge to do is clearly laid out. My ethics could be based on something completely different from another guys. The pledge just lets everyone - clients, coworkers and competitiors know what page we are on.

Every day Edmonton is becoming a more beautiful place to live. The River Valley Alliance, consisting of councillors from seven municipalities, wants to create the Capital Region River Valley Park, which would span the North Fort Saskatchewan River for 88 km from Devon, through Edmonton, and all the way to Fort Saskatchewan.

"I think it's going to be around for generations to come," said Jo Szady, a councillor with Parkland County on Thursday. "The biggest, and best, park I think North America has ever seen." www.cbc.ca

The park will be one more reason that people from around the world decide to make Edmonton their home.

If you were worried that Edmonton is too far away to put your money into think again.

International investors and business elite have a new stop on their flight plan. The new Edmonton -London non stop flight tickets are now available from Air Canada. The flights operate three times weekly and daily service is planned for 2007.

Proof that the new development is related to Alberta's Oil Economy all flights are timed to ensure no glitch connections to Fort McMurray, Grande Prairie and Yellowknife.

"Air Canada’s announcement further signifies Edmonton’s expanding economy plus its growing importance in both business and leisure markets." www.edmonton.com

Edmonton's market is still hot but the listings are cooling down.

"Edmonton-area home prices resumed their ascent in November after a brief pause in October.
Average prices rose to $334,039 for detached houses, and $282,434 for all housing types.
Compared to one year earlier, those figures are up 47.7 per cent and 42.5 per cent, respectively."

"Weaknesses in the U.S. or eastern Canada housing sectors are not present in the Edmonton market......." Madeline Sarafinchan, president of the Edmonton Real Estate Board

The frenzy we saw over the summer is slowing down and as a result less than 15 per cent of last month's sales were sold for over the list price. A big drop from the 37% seen in July.

Listings are down 21 per cent and sales are also down 16.7 per cent from October. The demand is still strong in Edmonton so prices are bound to increase. Especially since 2007 will see the city with historically low levels of inventory. The market is going to heat up next year but not to the level we have seen in the last twelve months.

So what? If you buy in Edmonton now you will still have a lot of opportunity to buy properties that make sense as an investment.

Sure they will be on the market for a shorter time and there will be multiple offers but Edmonton is still the NUMBER 1 city to invest in in Alberta. The market still has a lot of room to grow at least 5 years as the Alberta Oil Sands Development is still poised to take off. High demand and low inventory always means price increases.

Even with a 52% price increase over the last twelve month Edmonton is still number one in Canada. This is not a bubble either the economic stability of Alberta and the future of the Alberta Oil Sands proves there is still a lot of profitable investing left to do.

analyst

Ron Chalmers, The Edmonton Journal

Published:�Wednesday, October 18, 2006

EDMONTON - Edmonton may be the world's best city for real estate investment, says Vancouver analyst Don Campbell.

"Fundamentally speaking, Alberta's economy is as good as it gets," he writes in his latest issue of Top Ten Alberta Investment Towns, released Tuesday.

High energy prices, rapid population growth, low unemployment, good infrastructure and affordable housing make our province "the number one region in Canada -- if not the world -- in which to invest," he writes.

Campbell's "top ten" list actually contains 15 Alberta municipalities -- counting Sturgeon and Strathcona separately. Edmonton is number one for the fifth consecutive year.

PricewaterhouseCoopers recently credited Edmonton with "one of the most diverse economies of any city in North America," Campbell notes.

"Economic diversity provides economic stability, meaning that Edmonton is no longer prone to major upward or downward swings," he writes. "This type of stability is what long-term real estate investors are seeking."

Campbell points out that "Edmonton is strategically located between one of the world's most stable oil supplies (the oilsands) and the United States -- the world's largest energy consumer."

On his standard scorecard, Campbell gave Edmonton a perfect 13 out of 13 for factors such as rising population, jobs and incomes, economic diversity, affordable housing, political leadership, infrastructure and lifestyle.

He upgraded Grande Prairie, "a city that is poised for greatness," from eighth to second position. "Grande Prairie has become an economic power, diversifying its economy away from just forestry by becoming a major service centre for the growing oil and gas exploration industry," he writes. "Most major retailers and restaurant chains have set up shop to service this growing population."

Campbell cites Money Sense magazine as recently naming Grande Prairie the fourth-best place to live among 108 Canadian cities.

The Bank of Montreal chose it as number three for small business activity.

But Grande Prairie's tight real estate market squeezes some residents. "The city has recently entertained an idea to build 'garages' to enable residents in the cold winter months to continue living in the trailers and tents that they stayed in over the summer," Campbell reports.

Calgary placed third on his list.

"However, housing prices are becoming increasingly expensive for the investor as they search for potential cash-flow," Campbell cautions. "With the difficulty of new migrants finding a place to live in Calgary, we will see these people start to focus on other regions of the province."

Campbell is president of Real Estate Investment Network and author of Real Estate Investing in Canada, the bestselling Top Ten Investment Towns, which sells for $49.97 at (888) 824-7346.

TOP ALBERTA INVESTMENT TOWNS

1. Edmonton

2. Grande Prairie

3. Calgary

4a. Red Deer

4b. Sturgeon-Strathcona

5a. Lacombe

5b. Sylvan Lake

6a. Okotoks

6b. High River

7a. Devon

7b. Fort McMurray