I get asked this all the time. “If you live in Vancouver, why do you invest in Alberta?”
Surely, it must be simpler to invest closer to home. Less commute time, easier to manage, etc.

The short answer is that it doesn’t really matter where you invest, as long as the fundamentals in the market are correct. This is mostly true, although accessibility is somewhat important to me as well. I like to be able to travel to my investment within a day, simply in the event of an emergency. That pretty much means that anywhere in North America fits the bill.

The top 10 reasons that I like Alberta over BC;

1.     Economy. Alberta (and Saskatchewan), are the Canadian steam engines right now. Highest GDP growth in Canada, lowest unemployment rates, and huge population growth being drive by jobs.

2.     High disposable income. High wages (particularly in the oil and gas sector), affordable housing (by comparison to BC at least), and lower taxes than BC (no PST)

3.     No property transfer tax. The BC buyers tax amounts to about $20,000 on the purchase of a $1m property. Ouch!

4.     Lack of rent controls. In general, Alberta is more landlord-friendly than BC, but in BC the rent controls really hinder the wheels of capitalism. In Alberta you can increase your rents by as much as the market will bear once per year (or decrease them as was the case in 2009/2010). In BC, you can only increase them by a couple percentage points each and every year. This discourages investors to upgrade the properties and eliminates huge upside opportunities.

5.     Oil and Gas; Alberta has these resources in abundance. So does Northeast BC, which I think is also a great place to invest.

6.     No PST. This reduces your costs as a business owner by 7% pretty much across the board.

7.     Pro-business environment. BC is known for it’s left wingedness and it’s bureaucracy. Not to say that Alberta doesn’t have some of this, but it’s certainly easier to get things done there.

8.     Cash flow. If you’re a real estate investor looking for cash flow, then look no further than Alberta. High rents, and much lower housing costs = more dollars in your pocket at the end of the day.

9.     JOBS! (mentioned in #1, but cannot be overstated)

10. Weather. Just kidding. BC has Alberta beat hands-down here, but you don’t have to live in Alberta, just invest there and watch your bankroll grow…