On Tuesday October 7, the long awaited announcement finally came:  AMD & Abu Dabi Advanced Technology Investment Company has formed a new partnership called “The Foundry” and they are planning to open a chip fabrication plant here in Malta, NY.

Construction is slated to start in the spring of 2009. When it is complete, the chip fab will employ up to 5000 people.

I was interviewed about this new local development by Channel 9 News, CBS 6 Albany & WTEN and their biggest question was, “How will this impact the local real estate market?”

The market in our region has been stable, with prices holding, but the number of homes sold has decreased. This is not a bad economy whatsoever, we are simply returning to a normal market after a period of flurry for several years. Right now, it takes between 30 to 60 days to sell a house.

Is that so bad? I don’t think so.

This news about AMD & The Foundry, means we will have around 5000 more jobs in our area. Not all these people will be buying; some will rent & some will buy. Our market will continue to be stable and price appreciation probably will go up at the same rate as inflation, as it always has here in the Capital Region.

The other big question people are asking: “Does this only impact Saratoga County? The answer is a BIG “No!” It will make a positive impact on the entire Capital Region (Tech Valley).  Here in Albany, we have the Nanotech Center on Washington Ave and all the tech parks around the region. I strongly believe the AMD announcement is just icing on our cake. AMD is another piece of the much bigger puzzle that we all have being working to complete.

The challenge now is for the municipalities to start working together instead of separately, so we can make this announcement a true success. The day of local politics should be over and we should start looking at our region as a single entity. We have been given the best gift we could have asked for, especially in this times of uncertainty in our nation. Lets not blow it!