subject: A Consideration Of Ontario Real Estate [print this page] What do you think of when you think of Canada? Most folks will imagine snow and mountains and ice and hockey. But what about Canadian property markets? Except for the likes of Montreal or Vancouver, people might as likely picture a log cabin as anything else.
But the Province of Ontario is home to some of the most exciting real estate offerings in the whole country. And when speaking of Ontario property, one must first consider the land available in its capital city of Toronto, a cosmopolitan city of nearly three million souls that is arguably all of Canada's premier economic dynamo. It has long been recognized as a top center of world finance. And its extensive and well-run mass transit system, comprised of extensive bus and light rail networks, ranks as the third-largest such organization in all of North America, after only those in New York City and Mexico City. So with solid infrastructure and world-class cultural and educational amenities across its numerous and diverse wards, Toronto is generally considered the foremost real estate investment opportunity offered anywhere by Canada.
But you can turn a good profit elsewhere, in the province's less crowded municipalities, too, even if of rather more modest amounts. Quiet but economically vibrant places like beautiful Belleville set upon the start of the Moira River on the Bay of Quinte offer housing stock in traditional styles that is usually spacious and well maintained, with excellent schools and an abundance of rich cultural venues. In fact, trends have long suggested that Belleville may be well on its way towards becoming the kind of regional hub that Toronto is currently.
But not all of Canada's most exciting property markets lay within municipal jurisdiction. For many, rural living is in some regards quintessentially Canadian, and there are certainly those folks who just don't mind any inconveniences involved. As can be imagined, investment opportunities are rather rare in the countryside, as most rural people tend to own their dwellings and that's as far as it goes. So short of leasing out farmland, the only other obvious way to turn a profit in such parts of Ontario would be to get into the bed-and-breakfast industry, catering to tourists or renting out weekend and summer homes to vacationers. Sounds laid back? You bet, but a healthy honest profit is all some want, and if this sounds like your kind of thing, it's Ontario that you'll be wanting to invest in.
