A national investment think-tank puts Prince George among the Top 10 communities in B.C.to put your real estate money.
The Real Estate Investment Network (REIN) is a research and analysis agency that does not buy, sell or market real estate. According to its examination of the B.C. real estate sector, Prince George is now the ninth best market in the province, moving up one place from its ranking in 2012.
"REIN believes Prince George is a city that should see major growth in the next few decades," said Don R. Campbell, one of the report's authors and senior analyst with REIN. "The recent announcement that Prince George will be the official host city of the 2015 Canada Winter Games will also have a significant impact on the community for the years leading up to the events and beyond."
The report lists the inland container port, the trade routes by road and rail, the airport's recent upgrades, the region's major industrial projects, the city's service and supply amenities, and a busy post-secondary sector with limited campus housing options as reasons for the positive outlook.
The report said Prince George's geographic location and economic influence made it "a lucrative position as a trade centre."
According to Campbell, Prince George also innovated over and above most other communities when the times got economically tough.
"The downturn in the forestry industry has caused Prince George to go through an economic rebirth," he said. "The good news is that the economy was not 100 per cent reliant on forestry as other central B.C. towns were, and therefore has weathered the economic storm better."
As in all growing markets, Campbell said real-estate investors putting their money in Prince George will be taking on some risk.
"Investors in this region will battle with tenant turnover, selecting the right part of town in which to own, and the inevitable cycles that an economic transition brings over the coming years, " he said.
Heather Oland, CEO of Initiatives Prince George, was pleased but not surprised by the report.
"They figured it out independently, which just goes to show that we are on the right track about how we are promoting Prince George," Oland said. "We are optimistic the report's findings will lead to additional investor interest in Prince George."
Mayor Shari Green agreed that REIN successfully captured Prince George's real estate prospects.
"The report highlights Prince George's many competitive advantages as well as the growth and opportunity being experienced by Prince George residents and businesses," said Green. According to the city's own data, the local economy grew last year by almost five per cent, well ahead of the provincial growth of 2.4 per cent and national economic growth of less than two per cent in 2012.
The entire 110-page report is available for download free of charge at www.topbctowns.com.
The report's top 10 B.C. investment communities are, in order, Surrey, Maple Ridge, Fort St. John, Dawson Creek, Kamloops, Abbotsford, Kelowna, Chilliwack, Prince George and Langley.
