Canadian stocks, REITs roar back on vaccine news

Commercial  •  Bloomberg  •  Reuters  •  Bloomberg

Value stocks roared to life when Pfizer Inc. announced good results from COVID-19 vaccine trials. Walmart Inc.’s Canadian landlord, SmartCentres REIT (SRU-UN-T), jumped 16 per cent in a day while H&R (HR-UN-T) and First Capital (FCR-UN-T) gained eight and seven, respectively.

ELAD’s 70s-era Galleria Mall replacement underway

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  RENX

ELAD Canada’s Galleria project at Dupont and Dufferin Streets is rising where Toronto’s Galleria Shopping Centre stood from 1972. The 20-acre site will include an eight-acre park and seven commercial and residential towers, including the distinctive 31-storey flatiron-shaped Galleria III.

REACH launches Canadian real estate tech accelerator

RENX  Residential, Commercial  •  Technology  •  National

REACH Canada has chosen eight participants for its inaugural real estate technology accelerator program, and they’ve started work on an eight-month curriculum. REACH was created by Second Century Ventures, the strategic investment arm of the Chicago-headquartered National Association of Realtors.

LiUNA, Fengate acquire Toronto’s Concorde Corp. Centre

RENX  Commercial  •  Office  •  Toronto / GTA

Fengate Asset Management, on behalf of the LiUNA Pension Fund of Central and Eastern Canada, has announced the acquisition of the 567,619-square-foot Concorde Corporate Centre in Toronto. The centre is being acquired from Artis REIT, which bought it in 2010.

Plan in works for former University Research Park

Commercial  •  Calgary’s Business

VIDEO: James Robertson, president and CEO of the University of Calgary Properties Group, talks about the potential of the University Innovation Quarter lands, formerly University Research Park.

40-storey social housing tower slated for Vancouver

Residential, Commercial  •  urbanYVR

A 40-storey social housing tower with cultural spaces for the Ismaili community is slated for Vancouver. The DA Architects and Planners development will provide 32,300 square feet of new worship, social and educational space in the podium, and 198 social housing units.

Sponsored by Yardi The digitization of Canadian commercial real estate

Portfolio strategy in commercial real estate has become paramount to endurance as markets react in a ‘wait and see’ manner with the pandemic. While certain sectors of the industry that were previously flourishing have become increasingly vulnerable. . .

Cities’ funding requests focus on housing, transit

Residential, Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail

Canada’s municipalities have released a detailed, multibillion-dollar wish list for what a economic recovery plan should look like, including a $7-billion boost to the Rapid Housing Initiative, a program to create new affordable housing units partly by purchasing struggling hotels.

Wave of restaurant mergers, acquisitions is coming

Commercial  •  Globe and Mail  •  Globe and Mail (Sub. required)  •  Toronto Star

Recently, Inspire Brands (owner of the Arby’s, Buffalo Wild Wings and Sonic restaurant chains) announced it would acquire Dunkin’ Brands in a deal valued at US$11.3 billion, the largest acquisition in the industry since Burger King purchased Tim Hortons in 2014.

City planners reject redevelopment of Ott. golf course

Residential, Commercial  •  Ottawa Citizen  •  CBC

City planners are rejecting the development vision for Kanata Golf and Country Club, but the decision rests with authorities outside of Ottawa City Hall. ClubLink, Minto Communities and Richcraft Homes hope to transform the golf course into a 1,544-home subdivision.

Cabot expands golf resort empire into B.C.

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

Nova Scotia-based Cabot is expanding its golf resort empire again, this time to the other side of Canada. Cabot’s third site will be in Revelstoke, B.C., where it plans to build a golf course along with a lodge and housing.

George Weston reports higher third-quarter profit

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

George Weston Ltd. (WN-T) raised its dividend as it reported its Q3 results. The company, which operates through Loblaw, Choice Properties and Weston Foods, says its quarterly dividend will be increased to 55 cents per share, up from 52.5 cents per share.

Simon gives up on four struggling malls

Commercial  •  Bisnow

Simon Property Group, the largest retail REIT in the U.S., is feeling the pandemic pain. Simon has decided to relinquish ownership of four shopping malls to lenders that carried a combined $410 million in debt, MarketWatch reports.

NYC landlords set for property tax fights as values fall

Residential, Commercial  •  Bisnow

Owners of New York City real estate, whose taxes make up a sizable portion of the city’s revenue, are gearing up for a possible fight with the Tax Commission next year as the pandemic continues to wreak havoc.

Walmart forecasts promising holiday season

Commercial  •  Reuters

Walmart Inc. (WMT-N) said on Tuesday it was optimistic about its holiday sales prospects in a pandemic-ridden year after the big-box retailer beat Wall Street expectations for quarterly results as Americans increasingly shift their spending online.

Home Depot boosts staff pay by $1B

Commercial  •  Reuters  •  Canada Newswire  •  Reuters

Home Depot Inc. (HD-N) said Tuesday it will spend about $1 billion more on employees’ wages annually as the home improvement chain benefits from a surge in demand for tools and building materials. The company beat quarterly sales and profit estimates.

Buyers moving up ‘handcuffed’ by hard-to-sell condos

Residential  •  Reuters

A growing cohort of would-be buyers in Canada keen to move up the property ladder are trapped by a flood of condos in the Toronto and Vancouver markets. There is also a near-record number of new condos under construction.

The average cost of rent in Canadian cities for November

Residential  •  Daily Hive  •  Daily Hive  •  Vancouver Sun

According to PadMapper, the rent price free-fall in the nation’s two priciest markets has continued as Vancouver’s one-bedroom rent has hit its lowest mark since April 2017. Overall, 15 cities experienced a “downward monthly rent price change” and five were trending upward.

Canadian housing starts trended higher in October

Residential  •  Canada Newswire

The trend in housing starts was 222,734 units in October 2020, up from 214,372 units in September, according to Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC). This trend measure is a six-month moving average of the monthly seasonally adjusted annual rates (SAAR) of housing starts.

The most sought-after Toronto listings in 2020

Residential  •  Toronto Storeys

In the lead-up to the end of the year, real estate agent Doug Vukasovic has highlighted some of the most sought-after Toronto properties in 2020, each of which, sold for more than 170 per cent of the asking price.