In January 2006, I was providing valuation services for a national department store chain. Their stores sat on great real estate, connected to thriving enclosed shopping centres. Yet stepping inside each one was like going back in time ... 

For some time, major Canadian office markets have been experiencing a flight to quality, with many tenants leveraging increased vacancy and resulting supply to relocate to newer, higher-quality, better-located offices with attractive amenities. 

Whether among assessing authorities, municipalities, professional associations, or taxpayers, there is near, if not complete, unanimity that Ontario’s property tax system would function best with annual reassessments.

The property tax assessment cycle in Ontario has doubled in length; 2024 marks the eighth year of what was originally a four-year cycle. Much has been made of the impact of this delay on the increased complexity of assessment appeals. 

There are various factors — some unforeseen, some fleeting, some game-changing — that are directing the office market into uncertain territory for many stakeholders.

Ontario’s property tax assessment appeals landscape has shifted from an informal administrative process to a litigious quasi-judicial battleground. Legislative amendments, operational changes at the Assessment Review Board, activist municipalities and recent board and court decisions have propelled this transformation.

Many stakeholders are grappling with questions around the macroeconomic conditions driving each asset class in the Greater Toronto Area’s (GTA) commercial property market, but the answers to those economic questions should arrive in the coming year.

Property taxes are among the largest operating expenses for commercial property owners. In today’s high interest rate and inflationary environment, proactive strategies are required to minimize, and not merely manage, this cost.

As a taxpayer, nothing’s more unsettling than knowing you’re being treated unfairly. For example: a developer who is constructing a multifamily apartment building reached out with a situation symbolic of a widespread issue in New Brunswick’s flawed property tax system.

In the latter half of 2023, the narrative around Canada’s office market has continued to evolve. Trends emerging are influenced by stronger-than-expected labour statistics, remote work proof-of-concept, inflation and increasing interest rates, and the Great Resignation of 2021.

Metro Vancouver’s white-hot industrial property market is showing signs of cooling off, but strong demand and a shortage of space means the market still needs plenty of new workspace.

Throughout my experience in the commercial real estate industry, I have witnessed several downturns in the Metro Vancouver market. While there are often similarities among these cycles, there are also distinct differences.

Canada's hospitality industry is enjoying a post-pandemic recovery, stemming from rising guest demand, investor optimism and a healthy transaction market by a variety of capital sources. 

Tackling climate change and progressing toward sustainability goals across Canada’s built environment is an existential challenge.

We find ourselves today amid a period of macroeconomic headwinds, elevated interest rates and banking turbulence, but this combination of factors doesn’t mean that commercial real estate professionals should be approaching asset valuation without confidence and specificity.

Canadian retail performance over the last two years has been surprisingly resilient. The pandemic year of 2020 was obviously tough but also transformative, forcing many retailers to transform into omni-channel sellers to survive amid intermittent lockdowns and uncertainty. 

Property taxes are the single largest operating expense for most commercial real estate properties. Canadian property taxes are ad valorem, or market-value based. In other words, within classes of property, higher-valued properties pay more property tax. 

The year kicked off with a unique CRE landscape. The market transitioned from the comfort of record-low interest rates to 14-year highs, while stronger-than-expected StatCan employment data in January left central bankers pondering next steps to slow inflation.

Over the next 30 years, Vancouver’s Broadway Plan estimates the population of the area will grow by up to 50,000 residents and that up to 30,000 homes and 42,000 jobs will be created.

Vancouver’s Broadway Plan is a 30-year redevelopment strategy to infuse live, work and play opportunities in the Broadway area. But it has been implemented at a time of rising interest rates – a key consideration for potential developers.

Property taxation in what is now Canada existed before Confederation. Over time, distinct systems have developed in each province built on a common foundation — property assessment based on market value.