Pandemic leads to shifts in multifamily transactions

RENX  Residential  •  Hotels and Resorts, Apartments  •  National

Transactions in the multifamily asset class largely came to a halt in the spring due to COVID-19, but deal volume has picked up through the summer and early fall.

REIT execs see rising tenant collection rates

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Bloomberg  •  Canada Newswire

Canada’s largest commercial landlords are seeing improvements in rent collection as tenants find ways to normalize their businesses. Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T) expects to collect about 98 per cent of its third-quarter rent, according to CFO Cecilia Williams.

Design, Policy and Canadian Cities › Family-friendly condos in Toronto: Pipe dream or missed opportunity?

Naama Blonder: Architect, Urban Designer, Urban Planner | B.Arch, OAA, RPP, MCIP

Toronto condos enter zone of instability

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Trepidation may be permeating the downtown Toronto condo market – but not in luxury penthouses. A three-bedroom unit in The Bond lingered on the market for 116 days before two bidders pushed the price above the $5.45-million asking price.

Baker District Canada’s second One Planet Living site

Residential, Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

Windmill Developments and the City of Guelph have received One Planet Living endorsement for the city’s Baker District development. It is the second project in Canada to receive such an endorsement and the third in North America.

Canada’s hospitality industry turns cold again

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Montreal Gazette

From Sept. 13-19, occupancy at Canadian hotels dropped 53 per cent year-over-year, the worst reading since late July, according to data provider STR. New restrictions on the restaurant industry will also hit hard as well.

AHIP’s share price has dropped 75% in past five years

Commercial  •  Yahoo Finance  •  RENX

After five long years American Hotel Income Properties REIT’s (AHIP) share price is a whole 75 per cent lower. And we doubt long-term believers are the only worried holders, since the stock price has declined 63 per cent over the past 12 months.

Montreal startup Squarefeet.ai uses AI to set prices

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette

Montreal brothers Mark and Jordan Owen have launched Squarefeet.ai, which uses artificial intelligence to create algorithms to set prices for real-estate properties. The concept replaces the old-school method, essentially to follow gut instinct when fixing a price for a property.

Ottawa’s office vacancy rate jumps to 8% in Q3

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa’s office vacancy rate rose nearly a full percentage point in the third quarter as the COVID-19-fuelled economic slump prompted more tenants to shed space or take a wait-and-see approach to jumping into the market, real estate firm CBRE says.

Retailers reinventing brick-and-mortar stores

Commercial  •  Winnipeg Free Press

A sparkly jewelry store with interactive displays. An upscale parka retailer with a walk-in freezer. A cosmetics store with virtual makeup. The massive retail reckoning has fast-tracked efforts to turn brick-and-mortar stores into immersive, entertaining spaces to draw customers.

Allied executive VP invests $72K in units

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  RENX

On Sept. 22, Hugh Clark, executive vice-president – development, invested roughly $72,000 in units of Toronto-based Allied Properties REIT (AP-UN-T). He purchased 2,000 units at a cost per unit of $35.988, lifting this particular account’s position to 15,647 shares.

Ex-WSP CEO appointed McIntosh Perry chair

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

McIntosh Perry, an engineering firm that provides a full range of consulting and technical solutions to clients across Canada, announced Hugo Blasutta has joined the Board of Directors as chair. Blasutta’s previous executive positions include president/CEO of WSP Canada Inc.

ADNOC, Apollo close $5.5B investment partnership

Commercial  •  Reuters

The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) said on Tuesday it closed its $5.5-billion real estate investment partnership with entities owned and/or advised by Apollo Global Management Inc. (APO-N) subsidiaries and a group of institutional investors.

Ivanhoé adapting to foreign office demand

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets  •  RENX

Discussing the post-COVID future on an online investor panel, Ivanhoé Cambridge‘s head of Europe and Asia-Pacific Karim Habra said, “The key challenge is going to be how to adapt, how to convert . . . and how to anticipate these changes early enough.”

COVID-19 impacting use of technology in CRE

Commercial  •  Forbes

Although making the initial switch has been challenging for many companies, there were some positive aspects to the changing environment. For example, it forced many late tech adopters to become more proactive about implementing technology in their everyday operations.

Trump Tower remains namesake’s No. 1 cash cow

Commercial  •  Commercial Observer

A New York Times report released Sunday detailing information from the past two decades of President Donald Trump’s tax returns highlights that the 37-year-old Trump Tower remains his biggest success in the industry.

Core, Leaside propose twin mid-rise buildings

Residential  •  Urban Toronto

Leaside Residences LP and Core Development Group are proposing twin eight-storey, residential buildings in Leaside. The proposed Turner Fleischer Architects-designed buildings would contain a total of 143 and 106 residential units, including four townhouse units in each building.

Calgary multifamily market adjusting to new reality

Residential  •  Calgary Herald

Calgary’s new multi-family homes market has muddled through major economic headwinds so far this year, but held its own thanks to a focus on affordability, according to Urban Analytics’ recently released Alberta State of the Market, Q2-2020 report.

Townhomes lead the way in Edmonton’s multifamily market

Residential  •  Edmonton Journal

Edmonton’s townhome segment is powering the new multi-family market as the city’s real estate market struggles through the one-two-punch of the pandemic and the long-running oil slump, says Jackson Cornelius, market analyst and advisory lead Alberta at Urban Analytics.

Canadians remain optimistic about housing market

Residential  •  Bloomberg

Canadians remain optimistic about housing, polling suggests. About 44 per cent of respondents expect the value of real estate in their neighbourhood will go up over the next six months, according to Nanos Research. That’s the highest percentage since March 13.