Vancouver – Canada’s Golden Child is Growing Up

Many of my US clients have commented that they believe Vancouver is the best city in the World. It might be hard to argue against because not only has Vancouver become more beautiful, it’s also become an economic powerhouse.

Vancouver has the type of issues you find in Boston, New York, San Diego, Miami, Los Angeles and the SF Bay Area. Costs are almost out of control. People want to study in Vancouver and businesses want to move to Vancouver because of the lifestyle and opportunity. This has generated big interest in student housing investment in Richmond Vancouver and Burnaby among other communities.

And there are entrepreneurs ready to buy businesses here, such as Speedy Auto Glass tycoon Garry Skidmore.

It’s not just to save money either. They actually can’t find competent service providers due to high costs and unavailability. Vancouver does have good providers, but not many of them. New providers haven’t caught up to demand.

The cost of housing in Vancouver is sky high and those costs can drive away many needed businesses.

Vancouver’s Economy has been on FIRE

As this report on Business in Vancouver shows, certain industries are propelling growth on Canada’s west coast. Real estate in Vancouver took a little breather but the forecast is for more growth.

Screen Capture courtesy of Biv.com

If you’re in the insurance, finance, or real estate sectors, the promise is pretty clear. But for any company willing to help in BC’s growth in trade, marine farming and manufacturing, forestry products, travel and tourism, hotels, and construction, you’ll get plenty of attention.

Vancouver saw its strongest job gains in history last year… You had record employment growth last year of 60,000 jobs created. It just blew past the previous record”  “Although housing is a major economic driver, Vancouver’s high-tech, tourism and film industries have also seen strong growth, and so has manufacturing, thanks in no small part to the $8 billion shipbuilding program underway at Seaspan” – from a report on Biv.com.

In my experience BC is a unique environment and tougher to crack. You will need to drill down and build a real presence here at some point. The Asian presence is strong in real estate and finance and that can present barriers too.

Bottom line is that Vancouver businesses need help and you business could make a difference and a good deal of profit.

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