No end in sight to demand for Canadian industrial space

RENX  Commercial  •  Industrial  •  National

The supply of industrial properties still isn’t keeping up with demand despite 26.9 million square feet being under construction in Q1 2019 — up from 16 million a year earlier, according to the Spring 2019 Global Industrial Market Report by Avison Young.

Artis continues divestments, eyes U.S., industrial growth

RENX  Commercial  •  Office, Industrial, Retail  •  National

Artis REIT (AX-UN-T) is well down a path toward divesting up to a billion dollars in non-core assets, possibly by the end of 2019. Artis told investors and analysts in its first-quarter update it also plans to fortify its industrial holdings.

RioCan plans $200M CMHC financing for rental

Residential  •  Bloomberg  •  RENX

RioCan REIT (REI-UN-T) is planning to tap funding backed by Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. for the first time to help finance a rental building in Toronto, according to CEO Ed Sonshine. Toronto-based RioCan plans to borrow about $200 million.

Alberta leads in money-laundering: Report

Residential  •  CityNews  •  Calgary Herald  •  CBC

A new report by former RCMP deputy commissioner Peter German indicates Alberta has the highest provincial rate of laundering with over $10 billion funnelled through in in 2015, and there’s speculation it’s going into real estate.

Parq Vancouver casino successfully refinances

Commercial  •  CBC  •  Business In Vancouver  •  Canada Newswire

The Parq Vancouver, a luxury casino complex that opened to fanfare in 2017, announced it has successfully refinanced its debt amid increasing financial pressure and missed debt payments. The owners of the building took on about $450 million of debt.

Six acres in Windsor’s urban core up for grabs

Residential, Commercial  •  Windsor Star

It’s big. It’s vacant. And it’s key. The former Grace Hospital site is a whole lot of opportunity, and what the City of Windsor does with six acres could transform a swathe of the core.

Montreal CRE investment on the rise

Commercial  •  Montreal Gazette

As analyst Vincent Shirley and co-author Jenny-Kate Sgarbi note in an Altus Group Montreal Flash report, while total sales of investment property across Canada declined last year, Montreal’s investment volume jumped 18 per cent to $6.5 billion in sales.

Feds provide infrastructure progress report

Commercial  •  Construction Canada

Building a Better Canada: Progress Report on the Investing in Canada Plan 2016-2019, a new report issued by the federal government, provides an update on the progress in renewing the nation’s public infrastructure through the over $180-billion plan.

Hobin Architecture marks 40 years in Ottawa

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Business Journal

Ottawa’s real estate and development business leaders turned out Thursday to help Hobin Architecture celebrate its 40th anniversary. The party was held at one of the firm’s recent redesign projects, The Innovation Centre at Bayview Yards.

The birth and death of the ByWard Market

Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen

In 2027, Ottawa will celebrate the 200th anniversary of the founding of the historic ByWard Market, one of Canada’s oldest and continuously operating civic markets. Sadly, the ByWard Market’s most colourful cultural asset – its farmers’ market – is not well-protected.

Airbnb-style parking app motors into Quebec, Ontario

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

Two years after its launch, the Espace Park app, which allows people to rent out private parking spaces like apartments on Airbnb, is expanding across Quebec and into Ontario.

Alberta paying landowners for oilpatch defaults

Residential, Commercial  •  CBC

The Alberta government has paid out more than $20 million to landowners to make up for the shortfalls of energy companies since 2010. More than $12 million was paid in the last two years alone.

Ontario’s foreign buyers tax figures a mystery

Residential  •  CBC

The Ontario government is no longer publishing statistics about its foreign buyers tax on residential real estate. The 15 per cent levy was put in place in 2017 to try to cool the housing market in the Greater Toronto Area and beyond.

Communities reeling as Ottawa River hits historic high

Residential  •  Toronto Star

Lynne Lavictoire wants to go home. For the time being, she’s set up at a hotel where she is praying her home in La Passe, Ont., — along the Ottawa River — is salvageable.

What $2M will buy in five Canadian markets

Residential  •  Maclean’s

While $2 million won’t get you some of the swankiest homes in markets like Toronto and Vancouver, there are whole swathes of the country where you can’t find anything over $1.5 million.

REOC first-quarter financial results

Commercial  • 

Dundee Corp., (DC-A-T), Globe Newswire

Firm Capital American Realty Partners Corp., (FCA-U-X), Globe Newswire

Holloway Lodging Corp., (HLC-T), Canada Newswire

Policy-induced downturn may force rental shortage

Residential  •  Western Investor  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)

Sales of B.C. multi-family rental buildings reached a record-shattering $1.5 billion in 2018, but evidence is mounting sales are slowing and fewer private rentals will start construction this year. The downturn, industry insiders say, is based on government policy.

Toronto’s Matador sold to private buyer

Residential, Commercial  •  Toronto Star

Toronto’s historical Matador ballroom in Little Italy is officially closing following years of failed revamps, reopenings and attempts to get city permits. The building was sold earlier in May to a private buyer, owner Paul McCaughey confirmed.

Does Canada need interest-only mortgages?

Residential  •  Huffington Post

Interest-only mortgages have arrived in Canada. It’s a type of loan that’s popular Down Under, in the U.K. and elsewhere, where borrowers pay only the interest on their mortgage for some set period of time, commonly four or five years.

Home ownership dream slipping away: OREA

Residential  •  Financial Post  •  Vancouver Province

VIDEO: Tim Hudak, CEO of the Ontario Real Estate Association, talks with the Financial Post’s Larysa Harapyn about the Bank of Canada’s suggestions for the mortgage market, and how regulations, such as the mortgage stress test, have affected homebuyers.