BECAUSE of the property crunch in the United States, let’s look elsewhere. Let’s go to Canada for example. In Calgary for example, the Oxford Group is still planning to go ahead with their realty development project. The project has long been in the works before the housing crisis to its southern neighbor but yet, they are bullish. Even the common people in Canada are not afraid of the ongoing crisis just a few miles south. They said that the United States economy is different from the Canadian economy. And so must be the rest of the world.

Now, let’s go to Mexico. Mexico is definitely a Third World country with peculiar proximity to the wealthiest country in the world. Look, Ciudad Juarez is literally just a stone’s throw away from El Paso and yet its economy is still struggling. But beneath the poverty that is painted in the movie Bordertown, Ciudad Juarez has its own share of affluence. If only people can appreciate the goodness in each place in the world, the tourism and the real estate industries will definitely prosper. They say that the best tourism assets in the world are its people. Well, Ciudad Juarez has lots of beautiful people and if the rest of the world appreciates that, then this city can transform itself into an economically booming city that can rival its northern neighbor, El Paso. In fact, there are now two developments that are happening in Ciudad Juarez simultaneously which can definitely up its ante in terms of economic progress. The first one is the erection of an electronics assembly plant by Flextronics, a United States company. This piece of news has big significance. It means that the United States trusts its investment to Ciudad Juarez. I don’t believe that the presence of NAFTA alone is the contributing factor for the decision of the Flextronics management. Another company that is signifying its interest to invest in Ciudad Juarez is Genpact, an Indian-owned company. See, it is not just the United States which has seen Ciudad Juarez bloom into a blossoming city.

Now let’s go to India at the other side of the world. London Mayor Ken Livingstone has just praised India as one of the world’s greatest cultures in a recent visit. This pronouncement is significant in the sense that Livingstone is representing 7.5 million constituents and his official word is reflective of the views of his constituents. Let’s take a current look at Indian statistics. India has just replaced the United States as the number one destination for prime investments which involve huge real estate chunks. In 2006 alone, it has attracted $14 billion of foreign investments. Most of the investments here are for outsourced technical needs of multinational companies and naturally, these investments entail space for offices and factories used by these companies.

From Canada to Mexico and to India, let’s go back north and take a look at the real estate industry in Europe. Let’s dwell on Spain in particular. Spain as we know is a summer destination yet in these times when winter is already approaching, the country continues to attract foreign property buyers. That is a strong indication that the real estate market in the world is bullish after all.