RealCapital panel examines property valuation issues

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Industrial, Office, Retail, Apartments, Land  •  National

Getting a grip on property valuations has been difficult since the onset of the pandemic, and a Feb. 23 online panel as part of the annual RealCapital conference focused on those challenges.

Van. office vacancy rate forecast to climb: CBRE

Commercial  •  Western Investor  •  Edmonton Journal  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Vancouver’s office vacancy rate is expected to increase over the next year, after more than doubling from 2019 to 2020. CBRE’s latest real estate outlook forecasts the region’s downtown vacancy rate will reach 8.4 per cent in 2021, up from 5.8% in 2020, and 2.2% in 2019.

Tricon sells 80% stake in $1.33B US multifamily portfolio

RENX  Residential  •  Apartments  •  International

UPDATED with Tricon interview, new details: Tricon Residential (TCN-T) is selling an 80 per cent interest in its 23 wholly owned U.S. multifamily apartment properties to two institutional investors in a transaction which values the assets at $1.331 billion.

Nicola Wealth, Hopewell JV on U.S. industrial projects

Commercial  •  Globe Newswire  •  RENX

Nicola Wealth Real Estate (NWRE) and Hopewell Development are strategically developing the North Valley Industrial Park and the South Valley Business Park, both in Arizona, in addition to an in-fill 8.5-acre site in the Airport submarket of Las Vegas.

$500M racing facility proposed for Alta. river valley

Commercial  •  CBC

Badlands Motorsports Resort management said it has all of its permits in place, but just needs to raise more investment before the first phase of a $500-million racing resort can be built near Rosebud, about 100 kilometres east of Calgary.

MMP marks 40 years of building a better Calgary

Residential, Commercial  •  Calgary Herald

Despite the pandemic, MMP Engineering teams have been successful in delivering structural designs for four major Calgary projects, including two towers offering 400 units and two levels of underground parking for Remington Development’s Luma residential development across from Dalhousie Station.

The Saskatchewan Edge › How smart companies will address work-from-home

Barry Stuart: Managing Partner and Senior Sales Associate , ICR Commercial Real Estate

Caisse earns 7.7% in 2020 despite real-estate losses

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

Canadian pension fund giant Caisse de dépôt et placement du Québec tallied a 7.7 per cent return for 2020, as gains in private credit investments and a stock market rally helped overcome a 15.6 per cent negative return in its real estate portfolio.

Expansion would worsen climate crisis: Env. Hamilton

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Environment Hamilton wants the city to freeze its urban boundaries, as any outward expansion would decimate agricultural lands and make the climate crisis worse. Hamilton has put forward two scenarios for consideration, both of which involve very large boundary expansions.

VM Hotel files final prospectus for US$100M IPO

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire

VM Hotel Acquisition Corp. has filed a final prospectus with the securities regulatory authorities in all provinces and territories of Canada, except Quebec, and has obtained a receipt for its US$100 million IPO of class-A restricted voting units.

Ottawa city council OKs Chateau Laurier addition

Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal  •  Ottawa Citizen

The much-debated addition to Ottawa’s Fairmont Chateau Laurier hotel has been given the green light. Council voted Wednesday to approve the design and issue a heritage permit for Larco’s proposed addition at the back of the iconic downtown lodging.

REIT fourth-quarter financial results

Residential, Commercial  • 

CAPREIT, (CAR-UN-T), Globe Newswire
Crombie REIT, (CRR-UN-T), Canada Newswire
Slate Office REIT, (SOT-UN-T), Business Wire

Can new CEO turn around Canada Infrastructure Bank?

Commercial  •  Financial Post (Sub. required)

Critics have written off the embattled Canada Infrastructure Bank as ineffectual at best and a Liberal slush fund at worst. Can new CEO Ehren Cory, who grew up in the Northern Ontario community of Coleman Township, turn it around?

NYC CRE landlords amp up COVID tests

Commercial  •  Bloomberg

New York real estate executive Scott Rechler knows how to run an office building. Not in the job description? Creating testing centres for a deadly virus that’s swept the country. Yet that’s what he’s doing now.

HSBC to shrink its office footprint by 40%

Commercial  •  The Real Deal

John Hinshaw, the group COO of Europe’s largest bank, said HSBC will switch to a hybrid model where employees have the option to work from home. The bank is expected to reduce its real estate footprint by about 40 per cent.

Portland ends project with Sidewalk Labs spinoff

Residential, Commercial  •  Business Insider  •  BBC

Nearly one year after its Toronto plan was cancelled, Sidewalk Labs, a sister company of Google, has ditched another smart city plan after reported disputes over data-sharing with Portland officials.

Majority of mortgage deferrals have ended: CMHC

Residential  •  CTV

Most homeowners who sought deferrals for mortgages last year have seen their deferral periods end, but the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. says the risk of these borrowers falling into arrears could re-emerge.

Prices, sales, starts soared in major markets: CMHC

Residential  •  Winnipeg Free Press  •  Canada Newswire

A Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. report has found the COVID-19 pandemic was no match for Canada’s real estate market, which saw prices and sales soar in several major cities during the health crisis.

T.O.’s home prices may be drawing out the flippers

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

One renovated bungalow in the Bathurst Manor area provides a snapshot of the return of GTA house flippers, says Realosophy Realty president John Pasalis: The home sold in September around the $1-million mark, then swapped hands in February for $285,000 more.

COVID spurred wave of first-time homebuyers

Residential  •  Canada Newswire  •  Toronto Star

According to a recent Royal LePage demographic survey, 48 per cent of Canadians aged 25 to 35 currently own their home and 25 per cent of these homeowners purchased a property during the pandemic. Among non-homeowners, 84% intend to purchase a home in the future