Curious if anyone has any thoughts: do the rankings make sense? Any cities making the list that shouldn't, any that didn't make the list but should? Overall, are the rankings useful in identifying a market and does the methodology make sense for a real estate investor?
Chris, how much bandwidth do you have? In general I think trends in markets are unimportant to small investors (by the way I am a small investor). Here are some examples: (1) one of my clients buys 25 - 30 properties a month, he would never pay attention to a ranking on markets because he knows the towns he buys in, which has helped make him very successful (he's worth $20 - $25M USD), (2) my partner did some preliminary work for a hedge fun, they were looking to drop tens of millions of dollars - for them market trends mattered a lot because of the amount of capital they were deploying and the time horizon of the investments
I realize that I am not answering your question, but I hope that the above is useful as a frame work.
For curiosity, here's the distribution of the 35 cities they listed: 4 BC, 2 AB, 2 SK, 1 MB, 15 ON, 6 QC, 2 NB, 1 NS, 1 PE, 1 NL
22 have avg prices over $300K, including 6 that $500K-$1 million and one over $1 million. These are average home prices.
If you are investing, you want to find a place that you know, ideally close to where you are so you can manage them. They don't list avg rental prices or vacancy rates. Both are important when looking for rentals. I'd find a medium sized city (60-150K people) and invest there.
@Chris Gillam rankings like those found on MoneySense are intersting to read, but personal experience and investing philosophy trumps rankings every time. Have a look at their methodology and metrics; is it inline with how you invest? if not, ignore the rankings.
I personally don't invest in provinces with rent control, so not a single market in their "top 10" interest me in the slightest.
Curious if anyone has any thoughts: do the rankings make sense? Any cities making the list that shouldn't, any that didn't make the list but should? Overall, are the rankings useful in identifying a market and does the methodology make sense for a real estate investor?
Chris, I think your investing strategy is also a factor with this. If you are buying single family homes and renting them at a loss for price appreciation or are you buying rentals for long term cash flow.