Top 3 Reasons Why Canada Is the Best Country to Invest in Real Estate

Last week marked Canada’s 149^th birthday!  I share my birthday with this amazing country, which means I get to spend every year reflecting on what it means to be another year older all the while feeling enormous amounts of gratitude; both for another amazing year on the planet and for living in what I consider to be the best country in the world.

This year was not pomp and fare like it usually is; instead I was changing diapers and watching neighbourhood fireworks from the bedroom window rather than partying it up with the rest of the country.

However, this year, I did do a lot of reflecting.   Every year my birthday is a time to celebrate, but to also set new goals for myself and look back on the previous year.  Since I was in my early twenties, I set age based goals for myself – what I wanted to accomplish by age 30, 35, 40 etc.  Goal setting, especially writing down my goals (I can’t emphasize how important this is) has been instrumental to my success.  There was a study done by Harvard University that is titled “Why 3% of Harvard MBAs Make Ten Times as Much as the Other 97% Combined”.  In this study – the single factor that differentiated these two groups of graduates was written goal setting – pretty powerful stuff if you ask me!

Whenever I go anywhere and we get into a discussion about real estate, I always get questions about the ‘housing bubble’ and if Canada is indeed a good place to park their money.  Everyone talks about overly inflated prices – but remember – the housing market in Canada consists of more than Vancouver and Toronto.  I recently had a potential JV Partner who chose to invest his money in Bali instead of Canada with fear of this very same bubble – and I sat there thinking, seriously?

I am not an economist, and I don’t know what will happen to interest rates or whether a bubble is about to pop – but I can tell you one thing.  The rest of the world considers Canada to be a safe haven, and billions of dollars are pouring into our housing market from countries like China and parts of the Middle East.

Here is why:

1. Mortgages on income producing properties: This is a huge reason to invest in our real estate market. Canadian investors can purchase property for as little as 20% down (80% Loan to Value – LTV) and foreign investors can purchase property for as little as 35%.  That means that you can purchase a property with less money out of your pocket, your tenants pay down the mortgage and you can write off the interest on your loan when you do your taxes!

2. Historically stable housing market: If you look at the chart below fro the Canadian Real Estate Association, you wil see that the housing market has steadily increased over time.  There have been no major fluctuations and dips.  This allows us to project that the trend will continue, and there will be no major ‘boom’ or ‘bust’.

3. The Canadian residential property market has performed really well in recent years, especially in the Greater Toronto Area due to immigration.  Approximately 150,000 new immigrants settle in Ontario every year, of which the majority of them come to the GTA.  Our housing demand continues to increase, which continues to add to the stability of our market.  In addition, Canada is said to have weathered the global recession better than almost any other developed economy in the world, the government having put aside money when times were good.

“As part of its 2016 Foreign Investment Survey, AFIRE asked its 200 worldwide members — which include major real estate owner and developer Oxford Properties Group and a number of Canadian pension funds — what country offers the most stability and security when it comes to real estate investment.”  The results put Canada in the top 5 countries – which further supports the worldwide view of Canada as a safehaven to park their money.  So if the rest of the world is investing in Canadian Real Estate – we should be capitalizing on the opportunity that lies at our doorstep.

Until next time……………………………….