Commercial Real Estate Blog

GTA Commercial Real Estate Registers a 40% Increase in Transaction Dollars in Q1 2022 Compared to Q1 2021

Strong investor demand, a lack of inventory and low borrowing costs have fueled the Toronto commercial real estate market.

823 transactions resulting in $9.3 billion were registered in Q1 2022 compared to $6.7 billion in Q1 2021(1). Despite a disastrous 2020 and 2021, the office market has shown some encouraging signs with $1.9 billion recorded in that quarter, becoming the highest quarter the office sector has seen since 2015, a far cry from a mere $700 million in office sales in Q1 2021.
 
The industrial sector continues to linger at record low levels in the GTA. $1.6 billion in sales were recorded, up 10% from Q1 2021. You might think 10% doesn’t seem a significant increase as compared to office, but the industrial sector simply doesn’t have the supply to record higher numbers whereas the office sector does.
 
With the continued global supply train issues and ensuing increase in transportation costs, manufacturers are keeping production local thus driving up demand for cold storage, warehousing, and other industrial usages – it is doubtful there will be a cooling off period for the industrial sector in the next quarter.
 
According to Altus all asset classes (except the hotel sector) in 2022 have started off strong and are still highly desirable by both investors and end-users.  According to that same survey the Toronto market is the most preferred geographical area for assets followed by Vancouver, Montreal, and Ottawa. Of particular interest in the Toronto market were food anchored retail strips and industrial land.


Have questions on the Commercial Market? 
Reach out to me to discuss;

Chris Tyrovolas, BROKER
ctyr@royallepage.ca
www.commercialchris.ca
 

One of the priciest rental areas in Canada is now in the Durham Area.

 
New data released this week by the real estate listing and analysis firm Zumper reveals that Oshawa, Ontario, is currently one of the most-expensive cities to rent a place in all of Canada.
The small city just east of Toronto saw two-bedroom apartment prices jump by a staggering 24.8 per cent this month, reaching a new high of $1,860.
 
This figure may pale in comparison against two-bedroom units in Vancouver ($3,020) or Toronto ($2,400), but represents a steep increase for Oshawa, and the same can be said for one-bedroom units.
 
The average rent price for a one-bedroom apartment in Oshawa shot up 17.3 per cent between March of 2021 and March of 2022, and 5.2 per cent between February and March of this year alone. That kind of month-over-month growth is pretty much unheard of... or would have been, before the pandemic turned everything on its head.
 
Now, thanks to that speedy price appreciation, Oshawa has made the list of Canada's top 5 most-expensive rental markets for the first time ever.
 
The one-time automotive capital of Canada is up one spot in this month's ranking of the country's 24 most populous metro areas, knocking out Barrie to claim spot number five and establishing itself as the second-most expensive rental market in Ontario (after Toronto.)
 
Vancouver still tops the list (for now), followed by Toronto, Kelowna, B.C., and Victoria, B.C.
 
"More than half of the nation’s largest monthly and year-over-year rent spikes were located in the top 10 most expensive markets, signaling a return of renters to the pricier Canadian cities as COVID restrictions ease," reads the Zumer report.
 
"There was a lot of movement in the the top markets, with Kelowna moving past Victoria to become the 3rd priciest city, Barrie dropping out of the top 5, and Kitchener jumping up 3 spots to become the 7th most expensive market. The more affordable half of the Canadian cities stayed relatively stable."
 
Long gone are the days when Oshawa (or pretty much any Toronto suburb) was an affordable option for people leaving the big city to "settle down." We may just be seeing rent prices spike up into the big leagues now, but house and condo prices in Oshawa have been skyrocketing for nearly two years.
 
The COVID-inspired "urban exodus" from Toronto has been driving up home prices far beyond the borders of the GTA and even the Province of Ontario lately.
 
Rent prices are following suit, it seems, giving locals yet another reason to worry about affording a place to live in an increasingly unaffordable region.
 
Here's the full data set of changes in rent prices across Canada as of March 2022, via Zumper.
 
 
Willing to discuss this article? 
 
Reach out to me - 
Chris Tyrovolas
 

Decade Capital has closed on what its founders, Idan Mizrahi and Mike Siskind, call a “marquee acquisition” in the Greater Toronto Area city of Pickering.

For many investors/developers "intensification" is a key driver in purchasing properties.
Ontario’s Provincial Policy Statement, 2005 supports land use intensification by encouraging more optimal use of land, infrastructure, resources and services. Intensification is a key policy of the Growth Plan for the Greater Horseshoe Area. 
 
This recent sale in Pickering is a prime example.


https://renx.ca/decade-capital-buy-pickering-plaza-for-redevelopment/

Chris Tyrovolas 
http://commercialchris.ca

SOURCE: RENX.CA