JOB GROWTH
Today, everyone is talking about the Federal Budget. So I figure you really don’t need me for that. Plenty of experts will dial in, explore the tiny details, and let you know how it impacts your life, and real estate investing in general.
Most people also don’t need us to explain anything about real estate in Calgary and Alberta right now either. Calgary has seen its ALL-TIME best-selling months in history, for 2 months in a row. Prices are up, inventory is down—all property types, all price points, and also the surrounding towns. It’s the proverbial “rainbows, roses, and unicorns” story with double digit gains in 2022 so far. From February to March, overall prices rose 4%–in a month!
But in between all the big headlines, there is a steady under-current. And it’s exciting. Real estate investors know that job growth is one of the key economic drivers of both rent rates and property prices (to learn more, please see Authentic Canadian Real Estate, written by Don Campbell, or connect with the Real Estate Investment Network of Canada = REIN).
Almost daily, there are announcements of new jobs in and around Calgary. Even more interesting, very few of them are related to the currently rising oil prices. Bye bye “one trick pony.”
- Unity Technologies is an amazing mobile gaming and 3D content company (responsible for Pokemon Go!). In this past week, they announced a new office space with 60 employees now, and the expectation to more than double that within a year. No big deal numbers-wise, but think of all the start ups and support business that are required for a company like this.
- PACE Canada is a clean tech energy company, and they just announced that they’re moving from BC to Calgary. Of special note, they have 2 large solar projects in Alberta: one in Lacombe County, and one near Oyen. The exact number of jobs from this company isn’t clear yet, but it is interesting to note that Calgary has between 460 and 470 clean tech companies (CTV news, April 5, quoted from Patrick Mattern, Calgary Economic Development).
- De Havilland is an aviation industry company. They are building new firefighting water bombers. And they are looking for over 500 new positions!
- Wal Mart is in the process of building its new fulfillment centre just north of Calgary in Balzac. It is expected to bring 325 new jobs. Why is this interesting? Because Amazon announced their fulfillment centre in Balzac back in 2018. Balzac is so small it doesn’t even rank as a town, never mind a city. So all those workers have to come from Airdrie and Calgary.
- Yesterday’s youth hiring fair had 4000 opportunities available to young people in Calgary. It was the first time the event could be held in person in 3 years, and many employers and youth took advantage of the chance to meet face-to-face.
We haven’t even touched on the desperate need for tradespeople and health care providers in and around Calgary! There is a huge variety of jobs here now, and more coming. Today’s announcement of Calgary’s unemployment rate of 7.7% is actually good news for all these employers. In addition, many companies are already recruiting from outside the city, province and country.
As real estate investors, we are watching the wave of new jobs with optimism. Jobs lead to in-migration, which leads to more tenants and more home buyers. It will be a long time before the stats prove it, but the trend is undeniably already here.
