Canadian CRE transaction value hit $23.8B in Q1: Altus

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Investment, Land  •  National

Commercial real estate investment in Canada is experiencing a return in investor confidence an Altus Group report indicates. It states just under $23.8 billion was transacted across all major asset classes in Canada during Q1 2022.

Froebelius new BOMA chair; hopes to offer int’l view

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Human Resources  •  Toronto / GTA, International

Canadian Randal Froebelius has been appointed as chair of BOMA (Building Owners and Managers Association) International, a recognition of the country’s growing influence on the commercial real estate industry’s global stage.

TMU nixes 30-storey student housing component

Residential, Commercial  •  Urban Toronto  •  Toronto Star

A previously approved proposal by Toronto Metropolitan University (TMU) to build a 44-storey Science Building at 202 Jarvis St. has been followed up with a minor variance application to remove the 30-storey student housing component on the top of the development.

AIMCo JV acquires $439M U.K. build-to-rent portfolio

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Alberta Investment Management Corporation (AIMCo), on behalf of certain of its clients, and Ridgeback Group have acquired a portfolio of U.K. build-to-rent  assets from Angelo Gordon for a price of $439 million Cdn.

Industrial rents skyrocket 63% in Montreal: CBRE

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette  •  RENX  •  RENX

Average rents for industrial buildings in Greater Montreal soared almost 63 per cent year-over-year during Q2, according to CBRE. That far outpaced the 24 per cent national increase, and topped Waterloo, Ont.’s 40 per cent jump and Toronto’s 36 per cent climb.

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Rising interest rate puts condo, CRE starts in crosshairs

Residential, Commercial  •  Western Investor

The biggest hike yet in interest rates this year will complicate valuations for residential and investment properties and prevent builders from proceeding with projects, said Brendon Ogmundson, chief economist with the B.C. Real Estate Association.

Interest rate hike to further slow housing market

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Financial Post  •  CTV

The Bank of Canada’s interest rate increase is expected to deepen the chill in the housing market. Home resales and prices have been tumbling since the bank embarked on a series of rate increases as it seeks to arrest inflation.

Retail shaping future Of Calgary’s University District

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

VIDEO: James Robertson, President/CEO, University of Calgary Properties Group, discusses the recent addition of several retailers in the University District mixed-used development.

Spanish retailer Mango plans 20 Canadian stores

Commercial  •  Retail Insider

Popular Spanish fashion brand Mango will enter the Canadian market this year in partnership with Israel-based Fox Group. About 20 stores are planned, with openings as soon as this fall, as well as the launch of a Canadian e-commerce site.

Office space planned atop downtown Van. building

Commercial  •  urbanYVR

A mid-block heritage building at 852 Seymour St. in downtown Vancouver will be restored and redeveloped by Bene Group with a design by Arno Matis Architecture. The seven-storey building would include 31,479 square feet of office space and 3,522 square feet of retail.

Three discounted REITs to buy for capital appreciation

Residential, Commercial  •  Motley Fool  •  Motley Fool  •  Motley Fool

Killam Apartment REIT (KMP-UN-T) has an impressive $4.7-billion portfolio across seven provinces. Allied Properties (AP-UN-T) is all about urban workspaces and data centres. Dream Office (D-UN-T) is backed by a larger real estate group with a diverse portfolio of properties.

Brookfield JV acquires $23B stake in Deutsche Telekom

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  IPE Real Assets  •  Toronto Star

Deutsche Telekom has agreed to sell 51 per cent of its towers business to a consortium of Canada’s Brookfield and U.S. private equity firm DigitalBridge after they placed a surprise $23-billion Cdn bid in the auction’s final stages.

Delivery startup Gopuff closing 76 U.S. warehouses

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Concerned with the potential for a deep recession and the need to return to profitability, Philadelphia-based rapid delivery startup Gopuff is closing 76 U.S. warehouses and laying off 10 per cent of its American and British workforce.

Chelsea Hotel to be converted to 625-unit apt. building

Residential, Commercial  •  Bisnow

Add the Stewart Hotel to list of Manhattan hospitality properties shuttering permanently. The 618-key hotel in Chelsea, which was built in 1929, is being converted to a 625-unit apartment building, Crain’s New York Business reports.

China protests threaten $220B in mortgage loans

Residential  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Chinese banks could face hefty writedowns in their mortgage businesses as growing numbers of homebuyers threaten to stop loan repayments to protest unfinished apartments sold to them, analysts said. The mortgage bad-loan ratios for banks could rise fivefold.

Government fees crippling housing construction: CMHC

Residential  •  Daily Commercial News

Government charges can make up more than 20 per cent of home construction costs in Canada’s largest cities, data from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation shows. Quebec municipalities had the fewest government charges, ranging between four to six on average.

June rents trail pre-pandemic levels by 3.5%

Residential  •  REMI Network

The average rent price in June 2022 for all Canadian properties listed on Rentals.ca was $1,885, an increase of 9.5 per cent versus a year ago. But, as pointed out in the latest edition of the National Rent Report, that’s still 3.5 per cent lower than the pre-pandemic level of June 2019, which came in at $1,953 for all property types.

B.C. sees slower sales, dropping home prices

Residential  •  Vancouver Sun

High mortgage rates are slowing down real estate markets across the province as interest rates continue their climb from historic lows, according to the B.C. Real Estate Association.

Risks abound in reverse mortgage market

Residential  •  Financial Post

Canada’s reverse mortgage market has plenty of room to grow, but lenders should be wary of risks that are tied to its unique structure — such as longevity risk and appraisal risk — says an analysis by credit rating agency DBRS Morningstar.