Sandpiper increases stake in Dream Office REIT

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Investment  •  Metro Vancouver, Toronto / GTA

Calling Dream Office REIT (D-UN-T) “a diamond in the rough,” Sandpiper Group CEO Samir Manji says his firm increased its position to 10 per cent with the purchase of almost $13M in units. Sandpiper has invested about $150M into Dream Office.

Caisse to sell one-third of its Canada malls

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

Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec is preparing to sell a third of the shopping centres it owns in its home market as e-commerce finally starts to bite the country’s brick-and-mortar retailers.

Fonds partners with Devimco on MAA project

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

The Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ is teaming up once more with Devimco Immobilier, this time on the 34-storey MAA Condominiums and Penthouses directly above the MAA Sports Club, a well-known heritage building in Montréal.

Campus Suites grows student living, co-living portfolio

RENX  Residential

Campus Suites suffered a blow when The Arc in Winnipeg was the scene of a major fire during construction in late 2019, but the company is moving forward on several developments as it expands its student and co-living housing portfolio.

WeWork opens first Calgary offices

Commercial  •  Calgary Herald  •  RENX  •  Morningstar

International co-working giant WeWork celebrated its entry into the Calgary market Thursday. The New York-based company will occupy a total of over 141,000 square feet and 10 floors of office space divided between Stephen Avenue Place and the Edison Building.

The Apartment Building Expert › A record transaction, a $1M gift and a funeral for a friend

Derek Lobo: Founder and CEO , SVN Rock Advisors Inc.

Hard property market burdens CRE firms

Commercial  •  Insurance Business Canada

The hard property insurance market is weighing on insureds across the world, with Marsh reporting that average pricing for commercial property risks increased 30 per cent in Q4 2019. Within this space, the middle-market CRE space is especially challenged

Can a CRE insurer seek compensation on a subrogated basis?

Commercial  •  Mondaq

We were recently involved in a situation where the landlord’s insurer may be denied the right to subrogate against the tenant. We consider this issue important for professionals involved in the commercial real estate industry, particularly commercial landlords.

Altus Group launches Altus Data Studio

Residential  •  Globe Newswire

Altus Group Limited (AIF-T) announced the launch of Altus Data Studio, a new data analytics platform that provides clients with a deeper level of insight on the Canadian real estate market with new analytical capabilities.

RioCan ready to weather retail challenges

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

President and COO  Jonathan Gitlin says RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) is well-positioned to weather challenges in the retail landscape as it focuses on necessity-based retailers and major urban centres. Gitlin said the REIT’s retail mix is focused on “necessity retailers.”

Top 10 Canadian construction projects

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

The accompanying tables show the top 10 major upcoming Toronto, Ottawa, Montréal and Vancouver, Calgary, Edmonton construction industry projects in Canada. They are all in the planning stage and are mainly new projects, but may also involve additions and/or alterations.

Top 10 upcoming U.S. construction projects

Residential, Commercial  •  Daily Commercial News

The accompanying tables show the top 10 major upcoming California and Florida construction projects in the U.S. They are all in the planning stage and are mainly new projects, but may also involve additions and/or alterations.

U.S. firms boost Canadian expansion plans for 2020

Commercial  •  Western Investor

More than half (51 per cent) of U.S. employers surveyed by Envoy Global Inc. said they were considering Canada for expansion plans in 2020 — up from 38 per cent a year earlier.

U.S. CRE executives report balanced conditions

Commercial  •  PR Newswire

U.S. industry executives continue to experience generally balanced market fundamentals across nearly all product types, with limited overbuilding and conservative overall industry debt, according to The Real Estate Roundtable’s 2020 Q1 Economic Sentiment Index.

Timbercreek, Soma acquire $130M California office campus

Commercial  •  IPE Real Assets

Toronto-headquartered Timbercreek Asset Management and Soma Capital Partners (SCP) have paid $130 million to buy a five-building office campus in California. SCP said the fully leased Murphy Crossing was acquired through the programmatic joint venture with Timbercreek.

Brookfield consortium finalizes Forever 21 acquisition

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Bloomberg  •  PR Newswire

Forever 21 has a new lease on life after Brookfield Property Partners, (BPY-UN-T), Simon Property Group (SPG-N) and Authentic Brands Group agreed to acquire the bankrupt teen fashion retailer. Brookfield will own 25 per cent of the intellectual property and operating businesses.

Home Capital reports $37.2M Q4 profit

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Home Capital Group Inc. (HCG-T) reported a fourth-quarter profit of $37.2 million, up from $35.8 million year-over-year. The alternative mortgage lender says the profit amounted to 65 cents per share for the quarter ended Dec. 31 compared to 46 cents per share in Q4 2018.

Condo sales put Toronto at risk of overheating: CMHC

Residential  •  Toronto Star

The real estate market in the Toronto area is in danger of overheating, with condos driving much of the momentum, according to a new report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

Hamilton, Montreal set the pace as home prices rise

Residential  •  Reuters  •  Montreal Gazette  •  Montreal Gazette

Canadian home prices rose modestly in January, paced by gains for the Eastern Canadian metropolitan areas of Hamilton and Montreal, the Teranet-National Bank Composite House Price Index showed on Thursday.

Zillow fans housing winds of change

Residential  •  Globe and Mail

At this time last year, many real estate agents were watching the arrival of the U.S.-based Zillow Group into the Canadian market place with a mix of curiosity and trepidation. For many people, searching real estate listings is all-consuming.