Industrial real estate has emerged as an unexpected saviour, with leasing volumes rising across Canada
Author of the article:
Murtaza Haider and Stephen Moranis, Special to Financial Post
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The suburbs made a remarkable comeback during COVID-19, as residential prices, rents and sales escalated faster than those in the urban core, while commercial real estate data depict a similar picture of strength and resilience in the areas outside the downtown areas.
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Indeed, the real estate story during COVID-19 is a tale of not one, but several markets. One is that the roaring housing market defied all predictions of doom and gloom, with unprecedented increases in demand coupled with lacklustre supply pushing housing prices upwards.
Another is focused on commercial real estate markets, which are further differentiated by geography and type. Often concentrated in the urban core, office real estate continues to struggle with growing vacancy rates and softening of rents. The short-term forecasts for office markets spell even more trouble, with vacancy rates projected to rise further.
But not all is lost in commercial real estate. Industrial real estate, especially suburban warehousing space, has emerged as an unexpected saviour, with leasing volumes rising across Canada. And if you thought COVID-19 had taken the retail sector down, think again. The on-again, off-again restrictions have certainly hurt retail real estate as has the shift to e-commerce. But retail leasing volumes started to recover after the second quarter of 2020, and retail vacancy rates are forecasted to stay steady.
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Recent data from CoStar Group, which tracks and analyzes activity in commercial real estate markets, demonstrates the diversity in market trends. For example, office leasing, like residential real estate sales, declined in the first quarter of 2020. But office leasing has since struggled to fully recover, while residential sales sprang back almost immediately.
The decline in office leasing is most pronounced in Toronto, where CoStar Group data show leasing volume in the third quarter of 2021 was 47 per cent lower than the average for the same quarter from 2018 to 2020. Other major markets, including Calgary and Edmonton, which were struggling even before the pandemic, showed similar declines.
The office market in Vancouver, though, showed resilience. Leasing volume there was up by 33 per cent in the third quarter of 2021 compared to the average for the same quarter from 2018 to 2020. Why is Vancouver bucking the trend? Carl Gomez, chief economist and head of market analytics at CoStar Group Canada, believes it’s because of the number of small- to medium-sized tech companies located there.
Toronto’s urban core is dominated by firms specializing in banking, finance, law, and insurance. The shift to working from home has been more pronounced in those sectors, according to Statistics Canada. The decline in office space leasing was, therefore, expected given the declining demand.
Suburban office markets, however, have managed to stay in the black. The net absorption of office space has been negative in downtown Toronto since the second quarter of 2020. But the suburban Greater Toronto Area (GTA) has fared much better, with positive net absorption quarter after quarter.
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The urban-suburban divide also persists in Vancouver. The net absorption of office space has been negative downtown, at least since the first quarter of 2020. The suburban office markets, on the other hand, have reported positive net absorption. Even in the second quarter of 2020, soon after COVID-19 was declared a pandemic, suburban Vancouver reported almost one million square feet in net absorption.
The suburban markets are also conducive to the growth in industrial real estate. By the fourth quarter of 2020, industrial leasing had topped pre-pandemic leasing levels in Canada. Furthermore, an additional 16 million square feet of industrial real estate is in the pipeline for Toronto and almost eight million for Vancouver.
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The better-performing suburban commercial real estate markets in Toronto and Vancouver suggest a slight shift in location preferences that the pandemic has accelerated. However, one should not be quick to write-off downtown areas just yet. With offices and educational institutions resuming face-to-face operations by early next year, downtown spaces are expected to be back in demand, which might require vacancy forecasts to be revised downwards.
Murtaza Haider is a professor of Real Estate Management at Ryerson University. Stephen Moranis is a real estate industry veteran. They can be reached at the Haider-Moranis Bulletin website, www.hmbulletin.com.
Robert McLister: Tax shelters don’t make housing more affordable, but those with the cash would be foolish not to use them
Published Apr 19, 2024 • Last updated 55 minutes ago • 4 minute read
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With housing unaffordability near its worst-ever level, our trusty leaders are on a quest to right their housing wrongs and get more young people into homes.
Part of Ottawa’s big strategy to “help” is promoting tax-sheltered savings accounts and pumping up their contribution limits. That, of course, stimulates real estate demand amidst Canada’s population and housing supply crises. But save that thought.
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First-time buyers now have three government piggy banks to stockpile cash for a down payment:
1. The 32-year-old RRSP Home Buyers’ Plan — which lets you deduct contributions from your income to defer taxes and then borrow from the account interest-free for your down payment (as long as you wait 90-plus days to withdraw any contributions);
2. The 15-year-old Tax-free Savings Account (TFSA) — which lets you save after-tax dollars, grow your money tax-free and withdraw it without the taxman taking a bite;
3. The one-year-old First Home Savings Account (FHSA) — which is a combination of an RRSP and TFSA. It lets you deduct contributions from income, compound it tax-free and never pay tax on withdrawals used to buy a home. You can even save the deduction for a year when you need it more — when you’re earning more money.
Assuming you have the funds and contribution room, these tax shelters can combine to help you amass a supersized down payment.
“Looking at the FHSA alone, with the max annual contribution room of $8,000 for 2023 and 2024, a potential first-time home buyer could have as much as $16,000 deposited in the account today for a down payment,” says Eric Larocque, chief mortgage operations officer at Questrade’s Community Trust Company.
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“If you also add in the cumulative contribution room of $95,000 for the TFSA, it amounts to $111,000 in potential funds available — and that’s before incorporating investment gains from either account.”
And it doesn’t stop there. RRSP, TFSA and FHSA savings limits keep increasing. If first-timers have enough contribution room, down payment savers in 2024 can sock away even more in these tax-sheltered troves.
“Factoring in the recent changes to the Home Buyers’ Plan, which now permits RRSP withdrawals of up to $60,000 — up from $35,000 — we land at a potential total of $171,000 in deposited funds that can be tapped for a first-time home buyer’s down payment,” Larocque adds.
That’s quite a wad — easily enough to cover the 20 per cent ($139,706) down payment required to avoid mandatory (and pricey) default insurance on the average home. Canada’s average abode is now worth $698,530 by the way, according to the Canadian Real Estate Association.
Here’s the rub: Canada’s living costs are sky-high, and real disposable income has trended downward. So, how’s an average first-time buyer household, raking in less than six figures, supposed to amass such a stash?
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Based on national averages, saving 10 per cent of one’s pre-tax income per year (who does that?) would take a young FTB couple over 15 years to sock away $140,000. History shows what would happen to home values if you waited 15 years — they’d jet off without you.
If you have no other resources and your bet is that historical appreciation rates continue — despite slower population growth, more building and potentially higher long-term rates — you’re better off saving less and buying sooner with a five per cent down insured mortgage.
So, does Big Brother really expect your typical first-time buyer to max out all these savings plans? Nope. But hey, throwing a buffet of options at you sure paints a pretty picture of government effort, doesn’t it?
Ottawa’s dirty little secret is that these nifty programs crank up demand, turning renters into buyers. So don’t bet on them making the home-owning dream any cheaper, for first-timers or anyone else.
Take advantage of them anyway.
The government sets limits on these tax shelters with well-off home buyers in mind. One lucky bunch who can make use of all three down payment savings plans is the first-timer with prosperous parents.
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Such buyers can make a withdrawal from their parental ATM (a living inheritance, some call it), deposit that cash in all three savings vehicles above and reap: hefty income tax savings or deferrals (thanks to the FHSA and RRSP deductions); tax-free/tax-deferred growth on the investments; and tax-free withdrawals if the money is used to buy a qualifying home (albeit, you’ll have to pay the RRSP HBP back over 15 years, starting five years after your withdrawal).
The more opportunities it gives people to save for a down payment, the more Ottawa worsens the imbalance between purchase demand and supply. And that, of course, boosts real estate values skyward — which is dandy for existing owners but contradictory to the government’s affordability messaging.
But hey, these tax treats are ripe for the picking. Home shoppers with the means — especially those with deep-pocketed parents — might as well take advantage of all three accounts.
Successful real estate investors have long followed the adage: When there is blood in the street, buy property.
Historically, this approach has yielded dividends, and it explains the mindset behind a new venture from Hines, a real estate giant with over $93 billion in assets under management. Hines recently announced a new platform called Hines Private Wealth Solutions that seeks to capitalize on the recent troubles in the real estate industry.
The management at Hines has been carefully watching the real estate industry for decades, and they believe that today’s market presents the perfect opportunity for investors to buy distressed assets and sell them at a profit in the future. When you consider that nearly $4 trillion in commercial real estate loans are set to mature between now and 2027, it’s easy to see the logic behind Hines Private Wealth Solutions.
The developers behind many of those projects took out loans assuming they would be able to refinance at pre-COVID interest rates. Considering that current interest rates are about double what they were before COVID-19, that assumption looks more like a losing bet every day. It also means there will be a lot of foreclosures that a well-positioned fund can snap up for pennies on the dollar.
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That’s where Hines Private Wealth Solutions seeks to step into the picture. It’s already contracted with investing heavyweight Paul Ferraro, former head of Carlyle Private Wealth Group, and raised $10 billion in funds for the new project. It will offer its clients a range of investment options, including:
In addition to these offerings, Hines will also give personal guidance to its investors on how to best manage their real estate assets. It is targeting investors who want to turn away from the traditional 60/40 investment model by channeling more money into real estate and away from other alternative investments. Hines is banking on the idea that high interest rates and high inflation will be around for a while.
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When that happens, it becomes more important for investors to hold inflation-resistant assets. That’s a big part of why Hines is betting that real estate is near the bottom after years of declining profits resulting from high interest rates and major losses in the commercial sector. Hines’s conclusion that now is the time to buy real estate is based on long-term company research showing that real estate typically declines after a 15- to 17-year-long growth period.
Its research shows that the decline normally lasts around two years, which is about the same length of time the real estate market has been suffering from high prices and high interest rates. Theoretically, that makes this the perfect time to make aggressive moves in the real estate market, and the Hines Private Wealth Fund was conceived to allow investors to take advantage of current market conditions.
Despite the deep troubles facing today’s real estate industry, it’s not hard to see the logic in Hines’s approach.
“This is a great vintage, it’s a great moment. This real estate correction began really over two years ago, right when the Fed started raising interest rates,” Hines global Chief Investment Officer David Steinbach told Fortune magazine. “So, we’re two years into a cycle, which means we’re near the end.”
If Hines is correct, real estate investors will have a lot of good bargains with high upside to choose from in the next 12 to 24 months. The good news is that even if you’re not wealthy enough to buy into the Hines Private Wealth Solution, there may still be plenty of opportunity for you to adopt their investment philosophy and start scouting for an undervalued, distressed asset to scoop up. Keep your eyes open and be ready.
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