Canadian Real Estate

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Comment by Howard Meier on December 16, 2010 at 5:20pm

The one location Marshalls has secured is a former downtown night club next to Toronto's much music office, a former 50,000 square foot night club that was to be the trend setting spot went bankrupt now is a Marshalls.This is also a clear indication that downtown Toronto with all the new residential development is the hottest spot in Canada to invest in real estate, good bye the subburbs?  

With all the USA/European retailers eyeing Canada as the holly grail I also ask how much can Canadians actually spend and which existing retailers are going to feel the pinch.

Comment by Howard Meier on December 16, 2010 at 5:12pm

Thursday, December 16, 2010  Today's Toronto Sun,

Money

Marshalls heading to Canada

By Stefania Moretti, QMI Agency

Marshalls is headed to Canada with plans to open six new stores in the coming months, the discount retailer’s parent company TJX Companies Inc. announced Tuesday.

TJX, which also owns Winners, expects to open its first Marshalls store north of the border in spring 2011. It’s part of a corporate global expansion strategy that will see the company open new stores in the U.K., Ireland, Germany and Poland.

The off-price retailer is not unlike Winners and carries thousands of fashion and housewares brands for less than the manufacturer’s suggested retail price.

Framingham, Mass-based TJX has seen retail success in Canada since opening its first Winners store in 1990, Home Sense in 2001 and Stylesense in 2008.

“I am delighted to announce that we are bringing our Marshalls chain to TJX Canada, where we have our highest financial returns, with the planned opening of six stores in 2011,” said TJX president and chief executive Carol Meyrowitz.

“We believe Marshalls will offer Canadians yet another avenue to great brands.”

TJX currently operates more than 800 Marshalls stores across the U.S. and Puerto Rico.

Meyrowitz believes the Canadian market can support between 90 and 100 Marshalls stores and as many as 330 outlets between all four chains.

The company said it isn’t quite ready to announce specific locations.

TJX is just one of several foreign retailers eyeing Canadian consumers. TJX rival Target Corp announced in January possible stores in Canada within the next five years.

And more recently, Victoria’s Secret and Juicy Couture announced plans to open Canadian locations.

Canada’s sound economy underpinned by strong retail spending and relatively cheap rental space makes this country an ideal place to set up shop, experts say.

“Big companies are seeing that now is a good time to strike and they’re seizing the opportunity,” retail business consultant David Carr of David Carr & Associates recently told QMI Agency.

 

 

Comment by Howard Meier on November 29, 2010 at 7:27pm

Global Property Market

How will global property investors deploy their capital in 2011?

by;
Ann White
Real Estate News Exchange
Sun Nov 14 2010
While there is a sense of optimism about the North American and Global economy for 2011 the pace of recovery from the recession is expected to be slow and irregular. Economists say the worst is over yet unemployment is stubbornly high and debt burdened governments are simultaneously cutting spending and stimulus funding. The message about the global economy is decidedly mixed.

Declining performance of bonds and the equity market have turned investor interest toward safer and higher yielding opportunities. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) have seen an influx of funds from capital markets, institutional investors have increased their allocations to property, fund managers and high net worth individuals around the World are focusing their attention on real estate investment.

Just as the availability of capital for property is returning the supply and demand for real estate remains weak. A stalled global economy has undermined the strength of property fundamentals and questions remain about mortgage refinancing and how it will impact the property markets in 2011 and beyond.

With ballooning coffers assigned to property while the economic recovery remains uncertain "How will investors deploy capital in 2011?" is the key question to address at this year’s Global Property Market to be held on November 30th in Toronto says conference Chair Andrew Trickett, Senior Vice President, Investment, Oxford Properties Group.

Russell Chaplin, Chief Investment Officer for Property with Aberdeen Asset Management, a UK based firm with a Canadian presence that dates back to 1875 and manages a C$23 billion real estate portfolio, told RENX that the total volume of global funds available for property investment has returned to about 2004 levels.

Chaplin said global property investment is a powerful trend that is drawing increasing attention from sovereign wealth funds. He expects capital assigned to real estate investment will grow to exceed its 2007 peak.

In response to challenging circumstances for investors seeking accretive property investments there has been an unprecedented flight to core real estate assets located in the major capitals of World at the exclusion of secondary and tertiary markets.

‘Highly bifurcated’ is how Andrew Trickett describes the U.S. real estate investment market where he says there are ‘have and have not’ cities.

The ‘have’ cities are a very few gateway locations in the U.S. such as New York and Washington that have quality buildings in core locations with attractive risk adjusted returns to warrant acquisition or investment.

The majority of U.S. urban centres, the ‘have nots’, don’t currently have properties that meet institutional investment criteria. An available class A building in downtown New York might currently attract 10 to 20 bids while a similar building in a mid-American city would likely generate none, Trickett added.

Related articles:
Brookfield Refinances Tower With Chinese Loan - Wall St. Journal,
Canada's CPPIB sees more U.S. property investments - Reuters Canada, November 10, 2010
Institutional investors ideal for plugging real estate funding gap - Global Pensions, November 10, 2010
REITs Going Global to Find Deals - Wall St. Journal, November 10, 2010

Russell Chaplin contends that when investors stepped back into global markets, following the financial crisis of 2008, they focused on major capital cities because they looked well priced relative to other cities, other asset classes, most notably cash. He describes this strategic choice as starting in early 2009 in UK and then spreading around the world.

“The very best assets are getting bid up relatively quickly and as the price rises the ability to capture reasonable returns has diminished,” said Chaplin. “A strategy of acquiring trophy assets in major cities across the globe would not necessary represent diversification. It is difficult to see how it would pay off in the long term.”

As a consequence, Chaplin sees investors being tempted away from the core assets and ‘up the risk return spectrum’ in order to find new investments. He cautioned that analyzing properties outside the core is a more difficult and less straightforward process.

Brad Olsen, who is President of Atlantic Partners, a U.S. based global property investment advisor, said that investors are now hard pressed to find ‘risk adjusted return’ in some of the major cities. He said they would be compelled to consider alternatives to outright acquisition of properties such as recapitalization, joint ventures and to look beyond the major cities.

Olsen whose expertise includes Central Europe is recommending Poland and the Czech Republic as locations to consider. He said Poland didn’t experience a recession and the major cities in both countries have robust office, retail and warehousing sectors.

An ‘inkblot analogy’ is what Olsen uses to describe an evolving commercial real estate market in the U.S. Around cities like Washington, where there is little sign of recession, he sees property investment gradually seeping out from the city centre.

With reference to the New York City, Andrew Trickett said that there have not been enough transactions to conclude that the core property market is overheated. Nevertheless, Oxford Properties is considering investment in mortgage debt for properties beyond the gateway cities that will ultimately meet its investment criteria.

In a recent survey looking into the topic of real estate debt as an alternative to equity, Mercer identified an opportunity for non-bank lenders such as institutional investors, as borrowers face a 'funding gap' when it comes time to refinance.

Russell Chaplin said he wouldn’t be surprised to see a pause in the pace of investment in 2011. He expects investor to exercise caution given the variable economic outlook and to adjust their global investment strategies to account for what may be over heated markets in some major cities.

-------------------------------

To learn about global investment strategies for 2011, register for Global Property Market to be held on November 30th, 2010 at the Metro Toronto Convention Centre, South Building. Only $395 + $51.35 HST which includes the Toronto Real Estate Forum Chair's Reception.

SAVE $50 when you register for BOTH Global Property Market and The Real Estate Forum and pay $980 + $127.40 HST.

Comment by Howard Meier on November 29, 2010 at 6:40pm

Toronto Real Estate Forum this week at the Toronto Convention Centre Downtown Toronto. A must attend function.
Also on at the same time Construct Canada, PM Expo, Concrete Canada, Design Trends. Everything in one place.

Comment by Howard Meier on May 14, 2010 at 9:15pm

Paul Mehlsen of NAI Commercial (SASK) headed a team that initiated the sale of three multi-tenant industrial properties with a total 183,438 SF previously owned by Sun Life Assurance Company of Canada. Whiterock REIT bought all three buildings at a cost of just over $17 million. These buildings are located in the Ross Industrial Park, the premier industrial park in Regina

Deals are getting done in Canada - REITS and Funds starting to look outside the tradional markets on Toronto Montreal Vancouver Calgary.

Comment by Howard Meier on May 7, 2010 at 10:54pm

In regards to the EU crisis. Few strategists are bold enough to say the worst is over, quite the opposite in fact. They were spooked by the ever-climbing yields of short-term Greek, Spanish and Portuguese bonds. Yields on two-year Greek bonds reached 20 per cent – default levels – and the bonds had trouble finding buyers. “In our view, the lack of a clear end-game for sovereign risk in Europe means that, despite recent sharp declines in markets, this is not a buying opportunity,” a UBS team of strategists and economists wrote on Friday.

The selloff delivered a rude reality check to investors who had apparently placed too much emphasis on the good news – economic recovery in big chunks of the world – while ignoring much of the bad, including the true extent of the Greek debt contagion, the EU’s slow-motion response to cure it and the possibility that strong Asian growth can’t be relied on forever.
What does this mean for the Canadian market, just as we were starting to roll does the the worry at the banks will that freeze credit again and put the brakes on our market?

Comment by Howard Meier on April 27, 2010 at 8:46pm

Looking for ideas and help. Have a 40,000 sqft office building for sale in Burlington Ontario ideal for a user/investor , holding income in place, 18,000 sqft vacant new roof new parking, great shape below replacement costs and we should be be able to get a user finacing based on balance sheet lending and true 10 yr money could be better than typical mortgage. Not getting any users to step up, Any great ideas?

Comment by Howard Meier on April 27, 2010 at 8:41pm

City of Toronto running out of space, looking to move 150 people into 200 Wellington Street and lease third party space and spend tax payers money. What happen to all the surplus space and properties the city owns?

Comment by Howard Meier on April 22, 2010 at 11:15pm

http://ca.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idCATRE63L5PC20100422
Canadian Banks discuss policy changes by IMF - our Bank's seem to have it right.

Comment by Howard Meier on April 10, 2010 at 7:53pm

Breaking News...Ashlar Urban Realty Toronto's NAI member will be opening their second Toronto Office. Toronto North !!! Vince Cairo and Glen Crosby will be heading up the office. Both have had a long career at another commercial brokerage and most recently have just completed a $100 Million dollar land deal for residential development. More to follow

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