Canada's oil boomtown

[Heracles 417]

Canada's oil boomtown

$3,500 for a no-frills one-bedroom apartment? Welcome to Fort McMurray, the gateway to the second-largest proven oil reserve in the world.

By Erik Heinrich, contributor

Oil sands site near Fort McMurray, Alberta. $100-a-barrel oil has made its costly extraction from the tar sands profitable.

(Fortune Magazine) -- Two-bedroom apartments at $3,200 a month sparking bidding wars. Cash deposits of $6,000 made on the spot. Manhattan? Dubai? Think again. While the rest of North America is mired in housing pain, the market is scorching in Fort McMurray, Alberta.

This frontier town five hours north of Edmonton is the gateway to the Athabaska Oil Sands, the second-largest proven oil reserve in the world. With $100-a-barrel oil making its costly extraction from the tar sands profitable, crude exports to the U.S. have spiked to record highs - and the exploding industry has drawn some 20,000 fortune hunters since 2005, pushing rents into the stratosphere. One-bedrooms average $2,200; some are predicting that will soon climb to $3,500. Vacancies are rare, and landlords can name their price, often for apartments in rundown buildings with moldy interiors.

But for all the growth and six-figure salaries - the average income here is Canada's highest - you won't find a luxury building boom to match. One reason is that the government of Alberta is not releasing public land to keep pace with demand. But developers are also not sure there's much of a taste for loft-style living among a largely transient population of tradespeople from across Canada. There are no eateries with celebrity chefs in this no-frills town of pickup trucks and cowboy hats, and not just because staffing restaurants is next to impossible. (Some fast-food joints are forced to pay as much as $17 per hour to maintain a skeleton crew.)

Indeed, the folks of Fort Mac, as the locals call it, don't much care for the luxuries commonplace in big cities like Toronto or Manhattan. The crowd watching the Oilers-Flames hockey game on Saturday night at the Moose Head Pub appear to agree. They may be pulling down an average of $110,000 per year, but they're more interested in a pint of Molson Canadian with spicy wings than microbrews and gourmet fare. Says Ross Jacobs, a native of Ottawa who moved to Fort McMurray in 2005: "We like to keep things simple."

http://money.cnn.com/2008/04/08/magazines/...sion=2008040906

Canada is doing so well..

Edited April 11, 2008 by Boo-Yah!

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

The Manhattan of the Tundra!

[Heracles 417]

How do I get a visa to work there..

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Go there -- http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/index.asp

[Trompe le Monde 1,107]

An Australian boy might find the Canadian winters a little severe.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

especially up in Alberta.....

[Dan J 277]

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF8&q=...&iwloc=addr

Thats where it is, way out in the middle of nowhere.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

brrrrrrrrrr

[Gaby&Talbert 1]

I have been in Calgary and they were talking about how people come to the area to work but the cost of living is so high you don't end up with any money. Everything costs alot more in Canada than it does here in the US.

There is a major housing shortage in the oil towns so if you want to go there expect to pay a fortune for housing.

[w¡n9Nµ7 §£@¥€r 123]

Can I take my own igloo?

[DeadPoolX 9]

especially up in Alberta.....

I've been to Edmonton in November and Calgary in December. Just for clarification, it's COLD!

[Leafgal 3]

especially up in Alberta.....

I've been to Edmonton in November and Calgary in December. Just for clarification, it's COLD!

No it is much colder in Fort Mac. My son lives there and the housing shortage is big which is why rent is so expensive. Last time I looked a couple of years back the average house price for like a 2 or 3 bedroom was $450,000. On the plus side the wages are good, I believe McDonalds starting pay is $17 an hour lol.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

especially up in Alberta.....

I've been to Edmonton in November and Calgary in December. Just for clarification, it's COLD!

Yup. Edmonton (aka Deadmonton) is not only cool, but at the same time, "uncool". After living there for a couple of years, I thought I might just die from either boredom or have a heart attack from the prices -- though must be said, salaries are quite peachy.... vis a vis Seattle where the costs suckkkk and the salaries do too.

[DeadPoolX 9]

especially up in Alberta.....

I've been to Edmonton in November and Calgary in December. Just for clarification, it's COLD!

No it is much colder in Fort Mac. My son lives there and the housing shortage is big which is why rent is so expensive. Last time I looked a couple of years back the average house price for like a 2 or 3 bedroom was $450,000. On the plus side the wages are good, I believe McDonalds starting pay is $17 an hour lol.

I never said Edmonton or Calgary was colder; I merely stated that both are cold in the winter. That much is very true, especially to a native Texan such as myself.