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Kitchener-Waterloo Employment Growth outpaces rest of Canada in July

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Mon, 27 Sep 2010 00:27:35 +0000

KW Employment Growth up 7.8%

Some encouraging news for real estate investors looking to buy investment property in an area with a strong job market. Kitchener Waterloo is growing while many economies across Canada slow down.

Remember Ben’s Rule of Rental Real Estate: Buy rental property in strong job markets, near major employers

From Daily Commercial News:

“Strong fundamentals driving Kitchener-Waterloo into 2011

Kitchener, Ont.’s economy is heading into the second half of 2010 in high gear, based on the employment report for July and the building permits statistics for June.

In July, employment growth in the Kitchener-Waterloo metro area (+7.8% year over year) was the fastest among the 27 census metro areas in the country, and more than three times the national average (2.3%).

Year-over-year job gains in July were particularly strong in business services (+42.1% year over year); finance insurance and real estate (+31.0%); professional and technical services (+16.7%); wholesale and retail trade (+16.2%); manufacturing (+15%); and accommodation and food services (+8.3%).

This strong pattern of job creation was accompanied by exceptionally healthy year-to-date gains in residential building approvals (+68%), as well as in all three categories of non-residential building, led by institutional (+134%), industrial (+121.9%) and commercial (+109.8%).

Specific projects that contributed to this increase in building plans include: the Barrel Yards, a 25-storey residential, commercial and hotel project in Waterloo, Ont.; an office/tech building in Waterloo; and a new provincial courthouse designed to put the three courthouses in Waterloo Region under one roof.”

So that’s what the job market in Kitchener Waterloo is doing – what about the rest of Ontario and Canada? A recent headline from The Record reads Canada’s jobless rate edges up; Waterloo Region’s dips to 7 per cent.

I guess that’s why Kitchener Waterloo is the #1 city to invest in Ontario, according to the REIN Top 10 Towns list (see:

Top 9 Reasons You Should Invest in KW Real Estate)

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Local News looks at Why REIN named Kitchener Waterloo #1 place to invest in Ontario

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Tue, 10 Aug 2010 14:44:02 +0000

Last night CTV ran a story on the recent Real Estate Investment Network report naming Kitchener Waterloo (or KW) the #1 investment destination for real estate investors in Ontario (see: Top 9 Reasons You Should Invest in Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate).

I spoke with CTV at the Keller Williams office yesterday morning, and they also spoke with a client, Stephen Litt on site at the Arrow Lofts development. They ran the segment on the 6pm news, and again at 11.

Here is the (shorter) clip from the 11pm news:

(thx Mike Hagedorn for getting this for me!)

If anyone was able to capture the clip that ran on the 6pm news, I’d be eternally grateful for a link. Thanks!

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Top 9 Reasons You Should Invest in KW Real Estate

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Mon, 09 Aug 2010 12:55:49 +0000

KW Tops REIN Top 10 List

Kitchener Waterloo is Ontario’s top Real Estate Investment Destination, again.

Well, it’s that time of year again. Kitchener Waterloo is getting some more much deserved attention from Canadian Real Estate Investors all across the country.

KW has been named the top real estate investment destination in Ontario by the Real Estate Investment Network for a couple years in a row (see: Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate ranked #1 again), and this year the trend continues.

REIN released the REIN Top 10 list that named Kitchener Waterloo the #2 investment destination in Canada, and tops in Ontario again.

From CTV News:

The Record reports:
REIN “refers to Waterloo Region as the “economic Alberta of Ontario.”
That means Waterloo Region is seen not only as the economic engine of the new Ontario economy, but also that it “will outperform all other major regions in eastern Canada,” says REIN president Don Campbell
For indicators, he points to job growth, student growth and a new light rapid-transit system.”

Why are real estate investors focused on our city? Let’s take a look at the reasons why people like buying investment property in Kitchener Waterloo

Top 9 Reasons People Are Investing in Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate Now

1. Top Area to Invest – The Real Estate Investment Network named Kitchener Waterloo & Cambridge (“the Technology Triangle”) the #1 city to invest in Ontario and #2 in Canada, behind Calgary.

2. Low Interest Rates. currently we have very low interest rates – although there is a slight upward trend right now – which makes NOW a great time to invest. Rates will be going up in the future. It’s a matter of how soon, and how much. Smart real estate investors are taking advantage of historically affordable cost of borrowing money.

3. Great prices – Investors love Kitchener Waterloo because it has a booming economy, without big city property prices. Our clients invest in condos ranging from $120,000 on up, and there are opportunities to buy multi-family housing with cap rates of 7%, leaving room for healthy cash flow with today’s low interest rates.

You can buy good quality new construction rental units here, for much less than you’d pay for an older condo in Toronto. (That’s what our cilents from Toronto happily do, over and over again).

4. Growth – Kitchener Waterloo is growing at a rapid rate. If you haven’t been here in a few years, just drive down King St! There are mulitple mega million dollar developments that are underway or have been completed recently – The Bauer Lofts, The Barrel Yards, the Arrow Lofts, Kaufman Lofts, the new McMaster medical school and University of Waterloo Pharmacy school, the new King St streetscape in downtown, the new Uptown Waterloo, the Kitchener Market, Market lofts; and LOTS of development in the university areas as well.

Also, the University of Waterloo has recently announced plans to double it’s footprint over the next 40 years. See Is Waterloo’s Student Housing Market Being Over Built?
5. Stable, Diverse Economy – Kitchener Waterloo is a market supported by strong fundamentals – world class high tech companies, universities and NGOs; a strong manufacturing sector; proximity to Toronto and the United States; an international airport; continued job growth etc.

In the July 2010 figures released by Stats Canada, the jobless rate of the KW area fell, while national unemployment rose.

6. Access to Property Management – all of our clients have access to world class property management for a very reasonable rate. Contact me for more details !

7. Great Business Community – Major companies and organizations call the Technology Triangle home including RIM (makers of the blackberry), Toyota, OpenText, Manulife, Sunlife, the Perimetere Institute, the Centre for International Governance Innovation, and a host of world class local companies.

8. Awesome, Smart People: Kitchener Waterloo is the MOST INTELLIGENT COMMUNITY IN THE WORLD. Take that Toronto

9. Great Resource – You have found a real estate agent and Wealth Building team that is focused on building your wealth!

What are some of the reasons you like investing in Kitchener Waterloo? Let us know in the comments!

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Keynes vs Hayek: the Rap Battle of Economic Boom and Bust

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 16:23:41 +0000

This is a pretty good video, explaining two major schools of economic thought, John Keynes and FA Hayek.

One is a proponent of regulation, one believes in free markets.

What do you think?

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Savings & Retirement Plans in the New Economy

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 01:36:04 +0000

It used to be that you could work for a company for 45 years, retire with a pension to meet your needs and a gold watch to match.

Nowadays, there is no such thing as job security, and and any pension or government funded retirement plans are likely not enough to keep you living the lifestyle you’ve become accustomed to.

Most people’s stock portfolios are down double digits over the past several years, and many pension and institutional funds that many people count on have been severely depleted as well.

A new paradigm

During the typical working career, you go to your job and are paid for the work you do, or the time you put in.

If you go to work and do your job, you get paid. You are living off of the income you produce.

When you retire, you no longer go to work everyday to produce income – you now need to live off the income (or cashflow) your assets produce.

If you want to have a retirement income of $100,000 a year, and your investments generated a 10% rate of return, you would need to have $1,000,000 in assets. The more assets you own, the greater your potential retirement income.

Do you have a plan that will leave you with seven figures in assets by the time you want to stop working ? Real Estate Investing can be the vehicle that gets you to the retirement lifestyle you want, even sooner than you thought possible.

Email or call us at 519 772 4376 for a free consultation, and I’ll work with you to develop a plan that will allow you to reach your dreams

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Report: Waterloo Vacancy Rate Falls to 1%

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:13:06 +0000

Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) just released their Rental Market Report for the Kitchener and Guelph CMAs. This report outlines the vacancy rates, average rents, availability rates etc., and breaks the information down by category – i.e. vacancy rate for 2 bedroom apartment vs 1 bedroom apartments, or comparing rates in new apartment buildings vs older ones.

The vacancy rate in the City of Waterloo fell slightly to 1%, the tightest rental market in the entire region.

The vacancy rate for Kitchener City went up to 3.4%, and the Cambridge City rate was the highest at 5.6%. CMHC does not break Cambridge CMA down at all, so we don’t get to see the differences between the older core and the newer areas.

CMHC speculated that the higher rate in Cambridge was caused by “two factors: completion of a 133-unit rental apartment building in July and the movement of renter households to newly completed homes in the City of Cambridge.”

CMHC attributed the increase in the vacancy rates to a number of factors, including young many people becoming home owners (the cost of ownership decreased with mortgage interest rates staying near historic 60 year lows), as well as lower income renters moving home or taking on a roommate to save money on housing due to the downturn in some sectors of the economy.

The report reinforced something our investor clients already knew. Newer properties, those built after 1990, have the lowest vacancy rate, and the highest average rent. Buildings built prior to 1960 have the highest vacancy rates. Most of our clients are buying newer properties, for a few reasons including this.

If you have any questions about the real estate market in Kitchener Waterloo, or about buying or selling investment property, you can call me at 519 772 4376 or email me. You can find me on twitter at www.twitter.com/BenjaminBach

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Kitchener Waterloo Real Estate ranked #1 again

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 15:19:34 +0000

A client sent me a link this morning to the following CBC story

Waterloo area best for real estate: report

Toronto ranks 8th on list

Friday, October 2, 2009 | 8:43 PM

CBC News

The Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area is the best place in Ontario to buy a house or invest in a business property with hopes of making money, according to a report released Friday.

The report was issued by the Real Estate Investment Network, a consulting organization that provides investors with property information. It assessed the potential for real estate properties to appreciate in value in communities across Ontario.

The reputation of the Kitchener-Waterloo-Cambridge area’s reputation as a technology hub is responsible in large part for its desirability, said Don Campbell, head of the Real Estate Investment Network (REIN).

“You’re seeing [BlackBerry maker] RIM and seeing the high-tech industries still continue to grow and hire,” he said. “And at the same time, they’re revitalizing the downtown of the old cities of Cambridge and Kitchener and now they’re talking about [light rapid transit],” he said.

No longer a surprise to anyone reading this blog, but still a nice reminder

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Waterloo Chronicle reports 27.4% Increase in Home Sales

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Wed, 20 May 2009 21:34:10 +0000

Great little article from this morning’s Waterloo Chronicle, if you missed it, on the price and volume of houses sold in the Kitchener Waterloo MLS area:

Area housing sales up - May 20, 2009

There were 632 homes sold in Kitchener and Waterloo through April, a 27.4 per cent increase compared to March 2009.It marked the fourth consecutive month that sales have increased month over month. In March, there were 496 residential transactions and it was the first time since September of 2008 that sales had exceeded the 450 mark.While this month’s results are a 9.3 per cent decrease from April 2008 (one of the best Aprils on record), 2009 turned out to be the fifth highest April on record.

“Consumer confidence took a large hit at the beginning of the year, and our statistics certainly reflected that,” said Karen Shartun, Kitchener-Waterloo Real Estate Board president.

“What we’re seeing now is consumers regaining their confidence, but being more selective and hesitant than previous years.”

Though April’s positive results are still a far cry from the 697 homes sold this time last year, prices continue to hold their own in Kitchener- Waterloo and area.

The average price of all homes sold last month decreased 2.7 percent to $255,568 relative to April 2008, and increased 1.3 percent compared to March.

The average price of a single detached home on a year-to date basis in K-W is $285,900.

Now, stats and averages don’t tell the whole story – depending on what sort of properties you invest in, your mileage may vary. We are seeing multiple offers on many properties, in different price ranges – with mortgage rates as low as they are people are out their looking for real estate to buy!

For information about value of specific properties, and opportunities that you can invest in today at great prices, contact us today.

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Light Rapid Transit in Waterloo Region

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Mon, 11 May 2009 13:55:45 +0000

Well, they’ve been talking about it for a long time, and now it looks like plans are starting to come together. Here is this weekend’s editorial in the Record, if you missed it.

Waterloo Region’s $790-million question

“To build or not to build, that is the question.”

In just over a month, Waterloo Region will make one of the most momentous decisions in its history. In late June, regional politicians will decide whether or not a $790-million rapid transit system of electric trains and fast buses should link Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge and reshape this community forever

…

Some critics argue there’s simply not enough demand for what could be the biggest and most expensive public works project ever undertaken here. They say the 31,000 people expected to ride the rapid transit system daily when it would open in 2014 represent too small a fraction of the overall population to justify the project’s enormous cost.

…But the advocates of a combination of light rail trains and buses say this project is not just about moving people around. It is about building the regional community. It is about planning for a 45 per cent population growth that would see 729,000 people living in the region in 2031. It is, in other words, not just about trains, tracks and buses. It is about the future.

These proponents of rapid transit have a strong case to make, one that deserves full and fair consideration. And they are right that this is not just a transportation issue.

The Ontario government has designated Waterloo Region as an area of growth. Unless that policy changes, unless people stop coming to southern Ontario from across Canada and around the world, Waterloo, Kitchener and Cambridge will grow and change in ways that will make them very different places in the coming decades. In the corridor that would be served by this rapid transit system, the population is expected to grow by 100,000 people in the next 22 years.

Where will all these people live? How will they get around? The provincial government has declared that the cities of Waterloo Region must build more densely populated urban cores. But regional officials warn that, without better public transit, they would have to build eight more lanes of road capacity through the cities to handle the population growth. And there is no room to do that.

This rapid transit system might not be needed in 2009. However, it might be absolutely crucial to having three vibrant, livable, thriving cities in Waterloo Region in 2031. It could mean that our highways are not jammed and that our air is not so heavily polluted. It could mean we are, at long last, controlling and reducing our greenhouse gas emissions.

For the people living here then, a rapid transit system, based heavily if not entirely on electric trains, could be as essential to the community as the Conestoga Parkway is to it today. And it’s worth remembering that there were many vocal opponents to that expressway when it was built 40 years ago.

What do you think about the proposed Light Rapid Transit (LRT) system proposed here? I know some real estate investors have been buying property along the proposed routes…

Leave your thoughts in the comments!

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Transit News for Kitchener Waterloo & Cambridge

Benjamin Bach, the Wealth Team — Mon, 11 May 2009 00:32:04 +0000

Some exciting news for the region – GO Buses will connect Waterloo Region with the Go commuter trains in Milton.

GO Transit buses roll into Region this fall
By Jeff Outhit

WATERLOO REGION — GO Transit buses are coming to the region this fall to serve Highway 401 commuters.

The buses will ferry local passengers to GO commuter trains in Milton and to a transit hub at Mississauga City Centre. The buses will not go directly to downtown Toronto.

They will depart from park-and-ride sites that are not yet selected but are anticipated to be in Kitchener and in Cambridge.

A GO spokesman said up to a dozen buses will operate daily along Highway 401, carrying 800 to 1,200 passengers a day within two years.

The federal and provincial governments are spending $2.5 million to build four park-and-ride sites in and near this region.

“We support public transit, and we encourage more people to use the GO Transit system,” said Peter Braid, the federal government MP for Kitchener-Waterloo.

Municipal politicians said they are happy to get GO buses and are still keen to get GO trains.

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