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Investment hotspot rivals T.O. price appreciation
4/21/2015 | Posted in GTA Real Estate by Paul DeAdder | Back to Main Blog Page
This Ontario city once had a bad rap, but with a growing job market and population, transit developments and a new university campus, there has never been a better time to invest here, say experts.
“Oshawa is pretty hot,” said Bill Khanna, an investor and owner of the Khanna Group of Co. “I started investing there about 10 years ago and the prices have almost tripled in that time.”
Statistics Canada’s new housing price index, which was published last week, showed that Oshawa posted the same increases (0.3 per cent) as Toronto in February 2015. Average prices have been on the rise for some time now – and continue to show growth.
“The average price in Oshawa for 2014 increased eight per cent, showing great equity growth,” said Quentin D’Souza, chief education officer of the Durham Real Estate Investor Club.
“Looking at the properties I have bought over the last four months shows the same type of growth as last year.”
Population in the Durham region in general is predicted to grow around 65,000 in the next five years and to $1 million by 2030.
In Oshawa, there is a much more diverse range of employers than in the past, and new transit developments include the Go Transit moving right downtown over the next 18 to 24 months.
“We also have a major infrastructure improvement happening in the north with the extension of the 407,” added D’Souza. “The first phase going from Brock in Pickering to Harmony in Oshawa will be completed this year.”
The university has also added a new campus in downtown Oshawa and three more on the north side. “There’s a huge market for student rentals right now,” said Khanna. “The demand is huge, with about 1,800 students coming in each year over the next five years.”
Oshawa is just 35 minutes from downtown Toronto, with vacancy rates between 1.1 and 2.5 per cent. “The average days on the market for a new listing in Oshawa are 20 days, the lowest it has been in the last 15 years,” added D’Souza.
“This is all relative because the number of listings in Oshawa is the lowest it has been in the last 20 years, while the number of sales at the end of 2014 was the highest it has been in the last 20 years.”
