A home is the biggest purchase most people will make. When considering your financial portfolio, “hard investments” like a secondary property tend to be stable and profitable over the long run. They’re also more liquid than your family home.

When people invest heavily in their primary residence, they may not consider that in a growing area like Waterloo Region where housing prices are on the rise, it’s hard to make a profit unless you downsize or move to an area where home values are lower.

This realization is what sets many buyers on the mission to find an additional investment property and with respected post-secondary institutions, steady job growth along with healthy manufacturing and tech sectors, Waterloo Region (dubbed “Silicon Valley North”) displays the benchmarks of a strong, stable market with reasonable property values to boot — at least compared to the GTA.

There is much to tempt the eager investor, especially with investors trending away from recreational properties in the past decade. For many, a takeaway from the 2008 recession was that the demand for vacation homes may have peaked: they were costly to maintain and often difficult to sell, given their “non essential” status in the hierarchy of living expenses.

Local investments offer excellent long-term opportunities.

While we may not see meteoric rises in real estate values as does the GTA, we’ve also proven relatively immune to the dangers of a “bursting bubble”. The real estate market in Waterloo Region returns a predictable 3 percent growth rate year over year, low unemployment rates, low vacancy rates (they’re next to zero for well maintained properties) and steady cash flow that makes for a consistent investment experience.
Given our close proximity to other major centres such as the GTA, London, Hamilton and Oakville, our population continues to grow – which is great news for investors in Waterloo Region.