TGG BLOG

We're 300 Million Now!

Robert Bethge, 2006-10-17 22:07:05

Dear friends,

Today is a great day to post my first blog entry! Why? The US reached an important milestone today: 300 million residents! Why does it matter? Because population growth is for appreciation in real estate what a foundation is for a house: Without population growth no appreciation in real estate! You might argue that US has a lot of land, but in reality people move where the jobs are, so they tend to concentrate in the big metropolis like LA, New York, Phoenix, Las Vegas.

There were a number of good articles in the media today about this significant event. The San Jose San Jose Mercury News had a first page article, where they talked about a “population watch”: The US adds a new resident every 11.25 seconds! The 400 million residents mark is expected to be reached by 2043, only 36 years after reaching 300 million. It took 39 years to get from 200 to 300 million. This article also mentions that Hispanic immigrants are the most quickly growing “minority”. That’s why I like investing in states with a strong Hispanic population.

Another good article about this topic was published in Realtor.org. This article talks about the fact that until recently the new population concentrated in areas close to the costs, but now people move back inland to some extend, driven by affordability of housing.

My take-away: Find areas with good population and job growth, a high percentage of Hispanic population and an affordable housing market, and you’re going to do well in real estate, even in THIS market. Doesn’t sound too difficult, does it?

Check back for new blog entries every once in a while or sign up for our newsletter to get updates automatically. I intend to post new blog entries once a week or so.

See you soon and happy investing,

Robert