Properly cofounder Anshul Ruparell is pictured with a Toronto property for sale in this file photo.Galit Rodan/The Globe and Mail
Upstart real estate brokerage Properly Inc. has hired an investment bank to consider options including a sale, just a few years after rapidly expanding in Ontario.
Properly is the second real estate entrant that has been forced to change course after the country’s housing market slowed when the Bank of Canada aggressively hiked interest rates.
Properly cofounder Anshul Ruparell confirmed to The Globe and Mail that his brokerage hired investment bank Raymond James to help with the process.
“We received inbound acquisition interest, and have hired Raymond James to help us evaluate,” Mr. Ruparell said in an e-mail.
He declined to respond to questions on who had expressed interest; what price he would be willing to accept; why he wanted to sell; and whether he would remain in the real estate sector if he sold his company.
It is unknown how much the brokerage is worth. Properly had positioned itself as a tech company with online analytics to help determine valuation, as well as a real estate firm with innovative products that were not offered by the traditional players like Royal LePage and Re/Max.
Its main feature, called sales assurance, offered home sellers a guaranteed sale and price. It was designed to act as a backstop for home sellers by providing them with a firm purchase agreement to buy their property at a set price.
But earlier this year Properly paused sales assurance citing “unprecedented volatility in the Canadian housing market.”
It once had ambitious plans to triple its staff and expand across Ontario and other major Canadian cities. Properly now has 79 employees, which is about half the staff it had in mid-2021, according to LinkedIn. Late last year, the company axed 71 jobs citing the rapid slowdown in the housing market. At the time, Mr. Ruparell apologized to his staff and said conditions had “deteriorated much faster” than anticipated and that he could not predict when the market would recover.
His company is among the many in the tech space that have suffered from cooling demand from customers who sought out their services during the pandemic lockdowns and low interest rate era. Over the past year and a half, tech companies have cut more than 360,000 jobs in a bid to slash costs as borrowing costs have soared, cooling investor interest in early-stage tech companies. Valuations of public and private technology companies have crashed and venture capital investment has dropped sharply, echoing past downturns.
Earlier this year, financial services firm Desjardins Group shut down its real estate brokerage FairSquare Group Realty and blamed the housing slowdown. It had bought FairSquare, which was previously called Purplebricks, in the first year of the pandemic but failed to gain any traction outside of Quebec.
With the Bank of Canada resuming interest rate hikes in June, it is unclear whether the four-month rebound in home sales and prices will continue. Activity had quickly picked up after the central bank said in January that it would take a break from raising interest rates. Now, the bank is warning that the housing recovery along with a tight job market and robust demand for goods and services are signs of persistent inflation.
Mr. Ruparell started Properly in 2018 in Calgary where he grew up. He expanded to Ottawa and Toronto in 2020 as the real estate market boomed with interest rates near zero.
Properly had attracted high profile financiers and well known investors such as Bain Capital LP’s venture financing arm, as well as a $100-million credit facility from Silicon Valley Bank to help fund any purchases that were needed through its sales assurance.
Silicon Valley Bank has since failed after a run on deposits. Its Canadian loan business is now being auctioned off and it’s not certain what if any appetite a new owner would have for financing Properly’s business model.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was down more than 200 points in late-morning trading, weighed down by losses in the technology, base metal and energy sectors, while U.S. stock markets also fell.
The S&P/TSX composite index was down 239.24 points at 22,749.04.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 312.36 points at 40,443.39. The S&P 500 index was down 80.94 points at 5,422.47, while the Nasdaq composite was down 380.17 points at 16,747.49.
The Canadian dollar traded for 73.80 cents US compared with 74.00 cents US on Thursday.
The October crude oil contract was down US$1.07 at US$68.08 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.26 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was down US$2.10 at US$2,541.00 an ounce and the December copper contract was down four cents at US$4.10 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 6, 2024.
TORONTO – Canada’s main stock index was up more than 150 points in late-morning trading, helped by strength in technology, financial and energy stocks, while U.S. stock markets also pushed higher.
The S&P/TSX composite index was up 171.41 points at 23,298.39.
In New York, the Dow Jones industrial average was up 278.37 points at 41,369.79. The S&P 500 index was up 38.17 points at 5,630.35, while the Nasdaq composite was up 177.15 points at 17,733.18.
The Canadian dollar traded for 74.19 cents US compared with 74.23 cents US on Wednesday.
The October crude oil contract was up US$1.75 at US$76.27 per barrel and the October natural gas contract was up less than a penny at US$2.10 per mmBTU.
The December gold contract was up US$18.70 at US$2,556.50 an ounce and the December copper contract was down less than a penny at US$4.22 a pound.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Aug. 29, 2024.
The crypto market has recently experienced a significant downturn, mirroring broader risk asset sell-offs. Over the past week, Bitcoin’s price dropped by 24%, reaching $53,000, while Ethereum plummeted nearly a third to $2,340. Major altcoins also suffered, with Cardano down 27.7%, Solana 36.2%, Dogecoin 34.6%, XRP 23.1%, Shiba Inu 30.1%, and BNB 25.7%.
The severe downturn in the crypto market appears to be part of a broader flight to safety, triggered by disappointing economic data. A worse-than-expected unemployment report on Friday marked the beginning of a technical recession, as defined by the Sahm Rule. This rule identifies a recession when the three-month average unemployment rate rises by at least half a percentage point from its lowest point in the past year.
Friday’s figures met this threshold, signaling an abrupt economic downshift. Consequently, investors sought safer assets, leading to declines in major stock indices: the S&P 500 dropped 2%, the Nasdaq 2.5%, and the Dow 1.5%. This trend continued into Monday with further sell-offs overseas.
The crypto market’s rapid decline raises questions about its role as either a speculative asset or a hedge against inflation and recession. Despite hopes that crypto could act as a risk hedge, the recent crash suggests it remains a speculative investment.
Since the downturn, the crypto market has seen its largest three-day sell-off in nearly a year, losing over $500 billion in market value. According to CoinGlass data, this bloodbath wiped out more than $1 billion in leveraged positions within the last 24 hours, including $365 million in Bitcoin and $348 million in Ether.
Khushboo Khullar of Lightning Ventures, speaking to Bloomberg, argued that the crypto sell-off is part of a broader liquidity panic as traders rush to cover margin calls. Khullar views this as a temporary sell-off, presenting a potential buying opportunity.
Josh Gilbert, an eToro market analyst, supports Khullar’s perspective, suggesting that the expected Federal Reserve rate cuts could benefit crypto assets. “Crypto assets have sold off, but many investors will see an opportunity. We see Federal Reserve rate cuts, which are now likely to come sharper than expected, as hugely positive for crypto assets,” Gilbert told Coindesk.
Despite the recent volatility, crypto continues to make strides toward mainstream acceptance. Notably, Morgan Stanley will allow its advisors to offer Bitcoin ETFs starting Wednesday. This follows more than half a year after the introduction of the first Bitcoin ETF. The investment bank will enable over 15,000 of its financial advisors to sell BlackRock’s IBIT and Fidelity’s FBTC. This move is seen as a significant step toward the “mainstreamization” of crypto, given the lengthy regulatory and company processes in major investment banks.
The recent crypto market downturn highlights its volatility and the broader economic concerns affecting all risk assets. While some analysts see the current situation as a temporary sell-off and a buying opportunity, others caution against the speculative nature of crypto. As the market evolves, its role as a mainstream alternative asset continues to grow, marked by increasing institutional acceptance and new investment opportunities.
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