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British Columbia remains a prime real estate
investment, despite record high prices and
warnings of a reckoning looming in the housing
sector, according to experts at the annual
Jurock Land Rush seminar.
The
Land Rush, which drew a sold-out crowd of 500 to
its 14th annual event in Vancouver last month,
heard that bulging trade with China and
worldwide hunger for resources will keep the
provincial economy ticking and real estate in
demand.
Most
of the speakers suggested that the best plays
might be in northern resource towns, such as
Prince Rupert and Kitimat, than in the Lower
Mainland.
Michael Campbell, host of CTV's Moneytalks, told
the audience that B.C. is ideally positioned as
a supplier to China, the world's fastest growing
economy that is already consuming half the
world's coal and a third of the world's copper.
Campbell noted that B.C., like Alberta, is now
attracting global buyers seeking stable and
long-term energy suppliers.
"Where would you rather invest, Bolivia or
Canada?" he asked. Campbell believes the
resource boom in B.C. is just getting started
and will last for years.
Rudy Nielsen, president of Niho Land and
Cattle Company of New Westminster and one of
the largest land speculators in the province,
agreed, noting that real estate buyers are now
arriving, loaded, from Europe and the United
States, as well as Ontario and Alberta. "The
money coming in is just amazing," he said. Among
Niho's top picks for recreational investors are
the Queen Charlotte Islands, the Cariboo and the
East Kootenays.
Ozzie
Jurock, publisher of the widely read Real Estate
Insider, told the crowd that opportunities still
exist in Greater Vancouver. He pointed to the
Whalley area of Surrey, which he sees as an
emerging educational centre that is currently
undervalued. Jurock also likes Maple Ridge and
Mission, due to Gateway transportation upgrades,
and the Main and Broadway area of Vancouver.
"Greater Vancouver will add a million people
over the next 20 years," Jurock noted. "Values
will go up and down, but long-term, it is the
place to invest."
Jurock's bottom-line advice, however, is that
real estate is the best hedge against what he
sees as galloping inflation, seen especially in
hard assets. And, Jurock said, investors can
ignore the talk of bubbles. "It doesn't matter
what the overall market is doing. The important
thing is to invest. Set a goal, assemble a team
and concentrate on the deal. Money is available
and never easier to get than right now."
Jurock also listed some investments to stay away
from. His top warning was re-sales of pre-sale
Vancouver condominiums. He noted that some
developers who pre-sold are now having problem
completing within budget, which could expose
secondary pre-sale buyers to losses. He also
waved investors away from time-shares,
quarter-share purchases and hotel condos. But
for freehold real estate, Jurock said, "I am
convinced that prices in B.C. 10 years from now
will be a lot higher." |
