Vancouver Corporate Housing Part of a Growth Industry

Vancouver Corporate Housing Part of a Growth Industry

Entrepreneurs are attracted to business endeavors that can spring back from recessions and exceed expectations. The statistics of companies that specialize in renting luxury apartments indicate a solid business investment for new operators. Local agents in Vancouver find a busy market despite competition from national corporations.
In the last several recessions the real estate market collapsed and other housing sectors like the hotel industry suffered steady downturns. It's refreshing to see statistics that emit rays of sunshine through the darkness of the recent economy, and that comes from a sector of the housing industry that is growing exponentially: the corporate suite rental sector whereby executives, government officials, and other well-off travelers can obtain short-term lodging while in another city.

The term corporate housing is used in the travel industry to describe temporary apartments and houses, the average time span being 80 days in duration. The concept was forming into a business sector and growing for twenty years until overall revenues totaled $2 billion by 2005. A report by the Highland Group, a consulting company for the corporate housing industry, predicted a twenty-three percent revenue growth for 2006 - up to a healthy $2.46 billion. The year turned out higher than the estimate and growth was twenty-five percent, and the sector brought in $2.5 billion. An extra $200 million above predictions shows an unheard of streak of exponential growth when you consider that the growth between 2004 and 2005 was tallied at twelve percent...still fantastic but when a sector can double growth in a short two years it can turn more than a few heads.

Growth industries are few and far between in the cyclical economic boom and bust pattern of recessions created by lack of regulation in financial markets, government corruption, and the latest expensive overseas wars. The central banks receive astronomical profits in the U.S. by receiving free money from the Treasury. The Federal Reserve Bank (a private company, not a government agency) then lends the money back to the government at interest. That growth industry has been around since 1913 and has caused the money supply of the country to be in the hands of the international banking cartel, putting them effectively in charge of policy since the government is beholden to them to avoid total economic collapse. Other growth industries rely on the honest hard work, management skills and innovative ideas of taxpaying private citizens and budding corporations.

Most corporate housing efforts are undertaken by apartment and housing property owners who set aside a certain number of units to be used as short-term rentals for this purpose. Some of these are national and provide corporate housing reservations in more than one city but there is still room for entrepreneurs to thrive in the local market. The national companies have the advantage of being in multiple cities so they can court ongoing business from regular clients who have more than one destination for extended visits by their people for month or two. The marketing budget of such a cash flow may put single-city companies at a disadvantage but such a growth industry allows room for many players when managed properly.

On the average the corporate housing unit is nearly half the price of staying at a hotel while there is greater privacy and double the floor space or better. The company supplying the suites takes care of maintenance and cleaning while the guests enjoy all the amenities that come with a furnished luxury apartment, house, or condo. There are as many as 1,200 corporate housing operations in North America and the rapid expansion of the market will create new companies. There will always be people with money so the demand exists, but the major problem facing the industry is a possible dwindling of available units due to condominium buy-outs that will reduce availability and possibly drive prices up.