Toronto, Vancouver, Montreal rise in tech talent ranking

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Technology  •  National, Metro Vancouver, Toronto / GTA, Greater Montreal

Canada’s three largest cities all improved their rankings in CBRE’s Scoring Tech Talent 2022 report of North American cities, including Toronto which is now No. 3 on the list. Vancouver is No. 8 and Montreal 15th.

Near-record $1.7B poured into Montreal this year

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

Canadian and international companies continue to make record investments in the Montreal area this year as the region shakes off the effects of the continuing COVID-19 pandemic, but a slowdown looms in the months ahead amid the prospect of recession.

AIMCO, OMERS cede control of U.K. cinema chain

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Lenders have taken control of Vue, Britain’s third-largest cinema chain, in a deal they hope puts the business on a stable post-pandemic footing. Current majority owners AIMCo and OMERS, which will cede control, paid $1.53 billion Cdn for Vue in 2013.

Saskatoon PCS office tower sells for $13.5M

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Saskatoon-based developer Duchuck Holdings Ltd. has acquired Saskatoon’s nearly vacant 11-storey PCS Tower for the list price of $13.5 million. CBRE has been engaged to lead the leasing program for the 156,000-square-foot downtown tower after major tenant Nutrien moved out.

First Capital proposes 24-storey mixed-use in Midtown

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto

First Capital proposes to redevelop 34 through 70 Montgomery Ave. in Midtown Toronto with a 24-storey mixed-use building inclusive of a six-storey base. The RAW Design building would house 306 residential units – 51 studios, 109 one-bedrooms, 112 two-bedrooms and 34 three-bedrooms – and 5,561 square feet of retail.

Sponsored by CREW Vancouver CREW Vancouver’s 2022 Leadership Awards: nominate now!

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Cement shortages hitting construction industry

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC  •  Daily Commercial News

The construction sector is having a boom year, but cement, a key ingredient in making concrete, has become scarce. The shortage due to increased demand, labour shortages, inflation and issues at major plants is creating serious problems across Canada.

IFRS plans Montreal sustainability centre

Commercial  •  Sustainable Biz Canada

The International Financial Reporting Standards (IFRS) Foundation has signed a memorandum of understanding with the federal government and Montreal International to obtain funding for a sustainability standards centre.

Skyline Industrial sells Ontario building for $4.5M

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

As part of its portfolio repositioning program, Skyline Industrial REIT has sold a mixed-use commercial building at 66 Hincks St. in New Hamburg, Ont., for $4.5 million. The building totals 50,076 square feet of commercial space on three acres.

Spec builds can’t match Prairie industrial demand

Commercial  •  Western Investor

Strong demand and little new construction mean tight industrial markets are poised to get tighter across Eastern Prairies cities. Second-quarter reports from the country’s top brokerages including CBRE and Colliers point to falling availability rates in both Saskatchewan and Manitoba.

The Industrial Real Estate Show › Podcast: Cap rates do not equal yield

Chad Griffiths: Partner, NAI Commercial

Man found dead in Vancouver parking deck collapse

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Daily Commercial News

One man has been found dead under the rubble of a rooftop parking deck that collapsed into an office space below in East Vancouver on Thursday, sparking a search that stretched over two days.

Blackstone’s $7.6B REIT acquisition moves forward

Commercial  •  Commercial Property Executive

Stockholders of PS Business Parks Inc. have voted in favour of the REIT’s acquisition by affiliates of Blackstone. The $7.6-billion all-cash deal has Blackstone set to acquire PSB’s 27 million-square-foot portfolio of industrial, office and multifamily properties.

Final nail in the coffin for $2.6B London office scheme

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Liquidators have been appointed to a group of companies building a giant $2.6 billion Cdn, 4.7 million-square-foot office scheme in East London that was one of the flagship projects of Boris Johnson’s period as mayor of London.

Amazon, Meta pause work on new U.S. office buildings

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Bisnow

Amazon.com Inc. is pausing the construction of six office buildings in Bellevue and Nashville to reevaluate the designs to suit hybrid work, it said Friday. Bloomberg reports Amazon and Meta have also pulled back on NYC office expansion plans.

China urges banks to extend loans for projects

Residential  •  Reuters  •  Bloomberg

Chinese regulators on Sunday urged banks to extend loans to qualified real estate projects and meet developers’ financing needs where reasonable, in their latest effort to ease concerns triggered by a widening mortgage-payment boycott on unfinished houses.

B.C. speculation tax returns 20,000 units to rental market

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

In response to a new tax, property investors freed up an estimated 20,000 rental homes for British Columbians, according to a report for the government, showing the one-of-a-kind Canadian tax measure is having the intended impact.

Canadian houses now selling at $200K discounts

Residential  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Financial Post

The once-red hot Canadian real estate market is beginning to witness a trend that would have been unthinkable just months ago: Homes are starting to sell at a discount. Toronto suburbs in particular are yielding homes sold at $100,000-plus discounts.

Canadian housing starts trend higher in June: CMHC

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  Toronto Sun

The trend in housing starts was 258,295 units in June, up from 252,444 units in May, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates of housing starts.

Mississauga faces challenge of a shrinking population

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

The hollowing out of once-bustling neighbourhoods – like Mississauga’s Cooksville community – makes it harder to run nearby businesses, fill schools or justify money for local civic priorities.