Real Estate Investing in Calgary, Alberta

Perhaps no region on earth has seen the incredible economic expansion that the province of Alberta has seen over the last ten years. And with this amazing economic burst came a real estate market that has been the hottest in Canada. And for those with enough foresight, this amazing boom was completely predictable.

Just in case you’ve been living under a rock, the fuel that has been driving this economic surge is oil. For decades, it has been common knowledge that one of the largest oil reserves on earth is under the rich Albertan soil but the problem has always been how to extract the precious crude from the sand in which it was trapped. For years, “experts” saw Alberta has a sort of lost paradise; an economy that literally had no bounds to it at all if it wasn’t for the sand. But, predictably, technology finally caught up to the dreams of investors in Alberta and the separation of the sand and oil is now economically viable. This has led to literal boom towns showing up in Northern Alberta, much like a modern day gold rush. Maybe the single biggest recipient of this windfall has been the city of Calgary. This “Texas of the North” has always held a particular entrepreneurial spirit but with yearly province budget surpluses now in the hundreds of millions, the city of Calgary, and the province of Alberta as a whole, have become the new wild, wild west of real estate investing.

But the big question that concerns everyone looking to invest in Calgary is will it continue? The most recent real estate figures are all pointing to yes. According to a study released in early May, 2007, new home building is up a robust 7 percent over the same time in 2006. So more and more homes are going up in Calgary, but what about long term trends? Very few investment markets anywhere in the world can top the growth that Calgary has seen over the last decade. Growth has topped out at about 20 percent per year, every year for the past ten years and it is due to much more than the black gold found in the Albertan soil. Calgary is truly a wide open space, a city that has room to expand on all sides and a city blessed with such beautiful scenery that it has become one of the most popular places to live anywhere.

The average selling price for a home in the city of Calgary right now is up 22 percent over last year to just over 450,000. The average selling price for a condominium in greater Calgary is doing even better, up over 27 percent in the last year to $326,000. And every expert out there sees these trends continuing as long as there is black gold in the ground. Oh, and just to give you some perspective there, experts predict that there is at least 1.2 trillion barrels of oil available for mining in the oil sands of Alberta.

So, what else can be said about this incredible investment jewel in the middle of the mountains and oil of Alberta? The most important thing to remember is that while this boom has been going on for a while already, it isn’t too late to get your piece of the pie. With improving technology, more and more of the Albertan oil sands are becoming mineable and treatable, which will only send the local economies of both Edmonton and Calgary higher. But you shouldn’t waste another moment thinking about investing in Calgary, the faster you act, the better your investment will be!

Happy Investing!

Mary Wozny