The rush is on for industrial land, space, in SW Ontario

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Land  •  Ontario

Industrial land acquisitions and development continue at an almost breakneck speed in Southwestern Ontario as prices and rents keep rising and pushing investors farther west from the Greater Toronto Area.

RoseFellow invests $243M in 3 Montreal-area ind. builds

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial, Land  •  Greater Montreal

RoseFellow will build a $93-million, 425,000-square-foot industrial building on spec in Candiac on Montreal’s South Shore. It will also build two industrial buildings, with a combined 800,000 square feet of space at a cost of about $150 million, in Beauharnois.

Surrey to turn rural lands into industrial park

Commercial  •  CBC  •  RENX

The regional government in Metro Vancouver has narrowly approved the City of Surrey’s plan to turn about 600 acres of rural lands into an industrial park. The land is directly south of the Campbell Heights industrial business park.

Over $154M tied to detained oligarch invested in GTA

Residential, Commercial  •  Global News

The family of Chinese-Canadian billionaire Xiao Jianhua, who hasn’t been heard from since Beijing security agents whisked him from Hong Kong’s Four Seasons Hotel five years ago, has invested over $154 million in real estate across the Greater Toronto Area since 2015.

Yonge and Bloor: Locked doors and empty stores

Commercial  •  Toronto Star

OPINION: All four corners of Yonge and Bloor are doomed. So many stores have closed on that street — once so moneyed that it had its own black granite sidewalk — it looks like a beaten man’s toothless gums. No one’s smiling.

The Property Law Hub › An important lesson for buying real estate assets

Daniel Waldman: Lawyer, Pallett Valo LLP

Matco proposes Calgary mixed-use complex

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Matco Development, the majority owner of the historical Brewery-Rail Lands in the Calgary community of Inglewood, has proposed a series of new residential buildings that could house up to 2,000 people, as well as light industrial, commercial and office development.

Devimco, Fonds break ground on Mtl. condo building

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

Groupe Devimco and the Fonds immobilier de solidarité FTQ Thursday broke ground on Wellington sur le Bassin in Montreal’s Griffintown neighbourhood. The $160-million 25-storey project will feature 380 condominiums – studios, one- to three-bedroom units and penthouses of up to 1,328 square feet.

Automotive Properties buys two Tesla dealers for $25.9M

Commercial  •  Canada Newswire  •  RENX

Automotive Properties REIT (APR-UN-T) has completed the acquisitions of two Tesla automotive service properties for a combined purchase price of approximately $25.9 million. The properties are located at 2180 / 2200 Cyrille-Duquet Street in Québec City and 2474 Doral Drive in Innisfil, Ont.

Toys‘R’Us saviour looking for more deals

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Doug Putman, a 37-year-old university dropout. has quietly built an empire out of buying broken or underperforming companies such as Toys’R’Us Canada and Sunrise Records and turning them around. His appetite for deals is unrelenting and he’s hungry for more.

REIT ETF investors: Don’t fret over rising interest rates

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail

Experts say North American REITs have reduced their debt and refinanced loans at lower rates in recent years, making them less vulnerable to rising interest rates. As an investment, they may prove to be a bit of an inflation hedge.

REOC fourth-quarter financial results

Residential, Commercial  • 

Morguard Corporation, (MRC-T), Canada Newswire
Sienna Senior Living Inc., (SIA-T), Globe Newswire
StorageVault Canada, (SVI-T), Globe Newswire
Timbercreek Financial, (TF-T), Globe Newswire

TD expands U.S. footprint with $13B First Horizon deal

Commercial  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail  •  Bloomberg

Toronto-Dominion Bank (TD-T) is expanding its U.S. footprint by agreeing to acquire Memphis-based regional bank First Horizon in an all-cash deal worth US$13.4 billion or US$25 per share. First Horizon holds $89.1 billion in assets and operates 412 branches.

Rival REITs in talks to combine into $10B company

Residential, Commercial  •  Bisnow

Healthcare Trust of America is well along in talks to merge with Healthcare Realty Trust, The Wall Street Journal reports, citing anonymous sources. A combination of the two in a cash-and-stock deal would create a $10B healthcare property entity.

Tech firms struggling to get employees out of Ukraine

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Canadian technology firms with offices and employees in Ukraine are trying to help staff flee the country amid the intensifying Russian invasion, but efforts to get them access to Canada have so far largely gone nowhere.

Oligarchs’ NYC real estate is mapped out

Residential, Commercial  •  The Real Deal  •  Globe and Mail

As Russia’s invasion of Ukraine nears the one-week mark, calls are growing for actions against oligarchs and their U.S. real estate. A number of oligarchs own properties in New York City, though trusts and shell companies serve to hide them.

BCRE criticizes cooling-off period for housing

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe Newswire

The British Columbia Real Estate Association (BCREA), which has published a white paper and series of sweeping recommendations, says a cooling-off period the province is looking to introduce this spring will not alleviate the market’s heated conditions.

Population surges east of Ottawa

Residential  •  Ottawa Citizen

Before COVID-19, even before he became mayor of Russell Township back in 2014, Pierre Leroux saw the beginnings of the boom that is transforming the Eastern hinterland of Ottawa.

Gatineau, Que., faces a rental market squeeze

Residential  •  CBC

Finding an apartment in Gatineau, Que., could prove very difficult as the vacancy rate has plummeted, rental costs are rising, and there is increased competition from residents moving across the Ottawa River, according to the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation.

What’s next for Canada’s housing market?

Residential  •  Globe and Mail  •  Financial Post  •  Globe and Mail

OPINION: Is our housing market in a bubble? If it is, we face the risk of a significant and unpredictable decline in home prices when it finally bursts, which is unnerving for homeowners but especially so for prospective buyers.