Primaris REIT’s $565 million deal to acquire the Promenades St-Bruno mall from Cadillac Fairview emerged as the top CRE transaction by dollar value in the Montreal area in 2025.

It “was a very significant transaction,” in a year in which eight of the Top-10 sales in Greater Montreal were for multifamily assets, according to Scott Speirs, vice-chairman and practice lead for CBRE Montreal’s national investment team.

With over 200 stores and services, the approximately 1.1-million-square-foot mall in Saint-Bruno-de-Montarville on the South Shore of Montreal has more than $271 million in annual sales, and $917 in sales per square foot.

Apart from the mall purchase, there was an “unprecedented” focus last year on multifamily in the Montreal area, Speirs said. “It was remarkable from an investment volume perspective.”

How the sectors performed

Multifamily in Montreal has been outperforming the Toronto and Vancouver markets, Speirs pointed out, and he expects to continue to see strong demand from both institutional and private investors for the asset class in 2026.

On the industrial investment front, 2025 was the quietest year Speirs can remember, with very few trades.

“There has been some softening in the leasing market which has tempered pricing and owners are just holding on in anticipation that the market improves in 2026 and beyond.”

If there is greater clarity on the trade situation with the U.S., confidence should be regained in the asset class, he said.

Speirs added the office market has been “the turnaround story of the past 12 months,” with sales at the low end of the asset class closing quickly.

The momentum for office should continue this year, with more capital flowing in and institutional interest growing.

Interest remains strong for retail, particularly grocery-anchored retail. “There’s very aggressive capital in the market for that kind of product,” but supply is low. Investors should expect to see significant cap rate compression around the asset class given its defensive nature, he said. 

The largest 2025 transactions in Greater Montreal

Here are the 10 largest (by dollar value) commercial real estate transactions of 2025 in the Greater Montreal Area, according to CBRE:

1. Primaris REIT’s $565 million cash and share equity purchase of Promenades St-Bruno from Cadillac-Fairview.

2. Boardwalk Real Estate Investment Trust acquired the Central Parc 1, 2, and 3 apartment towers in Laval for $249 million, in the region’s largest multifamily transaction. The three towers at 3365, 3385 and 3405 Le Carrefour Blvd. have 541 units and were built in phases from 2019 to 2022 by Edmonton-based Saroukian Group. The purchase price represented about $460,000 per suite and a going-in cap rate of 4.5 per cent.

3. CAPREIT acquired two rental buildings in Laval, constructed in 2020 and 2023, from RioCan for $178 million. Previously under the RioCan Living banner, the buildings at 3440 and 3460 Saint-Elzéar Blvd. W. are known as Market and contain 436 apartments with large layouts and a range of amenities.

4. Realstar Group acquired 5885 Marc Chagall Ave., a 286-unit luxury apartment building in Côte Saint-Luc, from Jadco for $137 million in an off-market deal. 

5. Chartwell Retirement Residences acquired Rosemont Signature in the Rosemont–La Petite-Patrie neighbourhood of Montreal for $136 million. The phased project includes 632 units comprised of 10-, seven-, and six-storey connected buildings completed between 2016 and 2019, offering a range of preferences and care needs. It was developed by retirement home developer Groupe Sélection, which entered bankruptcy protection in 2022. 

6. Federal Real Estate acquired three 16-storey towers with 440 units on Macdonald Ave. in Côte Saint Luc for $128 million from a private Montreal multifamily investor. The buildings at 5150, 5350 and 5500 Macdonald Ave. had the same family owner since their construction in 1974. 

7. As part of a plan to maintain affordable housing, the City of Montreal bought 717 rental units in 31 low-rent apartment buildings In the Côte des Neiges neighbourhood from CAPREIT for $103.8 million. The deal for the buildings on Goyer St., Bedford and Hudson Rds., and Barclay and Darlington Aves. doubles the affordable housing stock managed by the city’s Office municipal d’habitation de Montréal.

8. In the only office deal among the Top-10 transactions, KingSett Capital spent $100.7 million to acquire 1200 McGill College Ave. from Busac, a subsidiary of New York-based JEMB Realty Corp. The 24-storey tower comprises 240,000 square feet of office space and 73,000 square feet of retail. When the transaction was completed in early June, KingSett was one of the few Canadian institutions actively buying office in Canada, Speirs says.

9. Keija Group spent $98.5 million to acquire Port de Mer from Hazelview Properties. The two-tower, 386-unit multifamily property at 99-101 Place Charles LeMoyne in downtown Longueuil on Montreal’s South Shore, faces the Longueuil–Université-de-Sherbrooke metro station.

10. KIN Income Fund and Vered Group acquired the 10-building, 412-apartment Domaine Choisy property in the east-end Montreal borough of Saint-Léonard from Greyspring Apartments for $97 million.