It’s no secret that investors from across Canada and the United States are looking to the Kitchener Waterloo area in Ontario as a great place to invest their money buying real estate. REIN (Real Estate Investment Network) says in a recent report that Kitchener Waterloo and Cambridge are their #1 place to invest in all of Ontario.
Long time readers of our Investment Real Estate Blog will remember the BMO Report I discussed in the post ‘Why People across Canada Invest in Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate’ about the region and the great economic fundamentals and conditions contributing to the growth, and here is even more support for this viewpoint:
“Waterloo is the new tech capital of the country”
So says Karen Mazurkewich in this weekend’s National Post.
A horse waiting patiently in the left turning lane - Waterloo, Ontario
“In this former agricultural heartland, still heavily populated with stoic Mennonite farmers, the story is upbeat. The tech sector here generates more than $15-billion per year, and the employment growth rate is 7%, significantly higher than Ottawa or Toronto.
Technology firms in the Waterloo region employ 28,000 people, and there are at least 2,000 more jobs looking to be filled. The community now boasts 550 technology companies, including the region’s anchors: Research in Motion (RIM), Open Text, the largest software company in the country; and Christie Digital Systems Inc., make of a high-end projection system, to name a few.”
RIM, one of the major businesses in the area, continues to see growth in their market share:
RIM dethrones Apple as US BlackBerry sales in Q1 soar
“According to recent analysis by The NPD Group, the BlackBerry Curve was America’s best selling smartphone in Q1 of 2009. It steals the title from the iPhone of course.”
BlackBerry Curve 8300 Series Chops iPhone in Q1 Sales
“RIM’s consumer smartphone market share increased 15 percent to nearly 50 percent of the smartphone market in Q1 2009 versus the prior quarter, as Apple’s and Palm’s share both declined 10 percent each”
Also, as I mentioned in my twitter stream (follow me at http://twitter.com/benjaminbach or by clicking in the Twitter box on the right!), Blackberry is now 16th on the Top 100 Most Valuable Global Brands (pdf link), ahead of Disney, Visa, AT&T and Mercedes Benz, among others. Impressive for a relatively young company!
What does all this mean to You as an investor ? Well, while many local economies are seeing limited growth (and remember, the real estate market is going to reflect the local economy), the local economy around here is humming along, companies are hiring, the employment growth rate is “significantly” above that of Toronto and Ottawa.
Where jobs are, people go. That’s where you want to invest!
