Chilliwack’s steady growth and affordability is gaining attention.
A story in Western Investor pegs Chilliwack as a growing B.C. community, “ripe” for investment, characterized “by affordable housing, high-paying jobs, green space and population growth.”
“Chilliwack is morphing from a farming community into B.C.’s version of Penturbia, the idealistic U.S.-born concept of suburban living,” writes the Western Investor last month.
The article notes that a typical detached house goes for about $450,000 in Chilliwack, which is “less than half of Metro Vancouver’s benchmark price” of $1.2 million.
Affordability is a recurrent theme, and part of the city’s appeal.
“Chilliwack’s economy ranked among the fastest growing mid-sized economies in the country between 2005 and 2012, with average annual increases in GDP of 6.2 per cent, according to the Conference Board of Canada.
“Buoyed by a revitalization of its downtown, an increase in public-sector and employment, single family home construction and several big industrial park developments, Chilliwack’s trajectory is set to continue,” trumpets the magazine, which calls itself, “the trusted source for commercial real estate, franchising and business opportunities in Western Canada.”
CEPCO president Brian Coombes said he appreciated the upbeat tone of the article.
Even the work done to date on downtown redevelopment is acknowledged.
“There’s a lot of positivity there. The numbers serve to break down the stereotype of Chilliwack as a small farming community,” Coombes said.
“So it’s not so much that we’re morphing from a farming community, but rather that the Chilliwack economy is diversifying as it grows. It’s great to have that recognized.”