Your #1 Investment Town in Ontario

Hello real estate investors in the #1 investment town in Ontario!!

What?  A stinky, dirty, dusty steel town is the top place to invest in Ontario?  #3 overall in Canada??  Well it’s true according the REIN President Don R Campbell.  Read the full article here. Here’s my summary and analysis:

• Hamilton was awarded the distinction because of its potential to attract jobs and business over the next five years
• REIN said years of efforts to diversify the city’s economy away from its traditional manufacturing base > just look at health care, the Red Hill Business Park, the AEGD (Airport Employment Growth District), and McMaster Innovation Park
• Factors that came into play: proximity to airports (did you know Hamilton has it’s own international airport?), good highway access to the American border at Niagara and Detroit (the opening of the Red Hill Parkway certainly helps!), the busiest port on the Great Lakes, and access to rail lines
• I think Hamilton’s tag line should be “Ports, Planes, Trains, and Automobiles” because Hamilton is becoming a gateway for the distribution of goods
• McMaster Innovation Park (which I wrote about earlier this week here) “will be the only one of its kind in the region and will build on the university’s existing reputation and prominence as a research centre of excellence. MIP will serve as a critical component in the training of graduate students, college students, engineers and highly skilled labour for the automotive and manufacturing industries.”
• REIN’s ranking was based on income, population growth, job creation, rental vacancy rate vs provincial and national averages, infrastructure and the performance of the Econonmic Development Department (from my experience and the feedback from my clients is that the City in General is very helpful).

Great news for us Hamilton real estate investors!  But stayed tuned folks!! I have an exclusive one-on-one interview with Don R Campbell right at the site of a future LRT stop (not station which we’ve known about for months but a recently unveiled LRT STOP).  See why Don thinks 2013 will be closer to a home run year in Hamilton and answers the question: “is it too late to invest in Hamilton?”

By the way, a Torontonian and future Hamilton investor asked me today “isn’t the steel industry in Hamilton getting killed?” I guess he didn’t see this article where ArcelorMittal (the former Dofasco) increased it’s Q1 net profit by 67%.

Hope that helps! Till next time – happy investing everyone!!

Erwin | MrHamilton.ca

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