Midway through 2022, Colliers Canada pegs the national office vacancy rate at just below 13 per cent, while the national industrial vacancy rate sits 1,200 basis points lower.

Beginning in 2023, municipalities will have flexibility to pull more revenue from their non-residential tax base, potentially cancelling out a phased 15 per cent reduction in the provincial property tax rate that was introduced this year.

Inflation, in combination with tight labour markets, is compounding the rising wages in the frontline service workforce.

Both the NDP and Green parties float concepts for standardized lease agreements and rent control guidelines in their recently released platforms for the June 2 Ontario election..

Ontario’s large commercial customers will have somewhat more straightforward parameters for carving out their share of the global adjustment as they prepare for expected summer peak demand.

Investors and lenders are expected to increasingly focus on the physical and transitional risks of climate change, in turn upending some conventional views of costs and value.

Office and retail were diagnosed as stricken asset classes early in the pandemic, but after 20 months on the disabled list, conventional venues for labour and shopping are rallying to fight for market share.

Ontario’s overdue property reassessment is on hold until at least 2024, leaving many commercial ratepayers with a further wait to realize tax reductions from pandemic-related value erosion.

Assessed values in Ottawa and Toronto will be at least seven years out of date and Winnipeg’s will be nearly five years behind before new assessment cycles begin in those cities.

A new iteration of property expense relief will be more bountiful for many recipients than recent payouts of the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidiary, but fewer commercial tenants or owner-occupiers will qualify.

Canadian hotels still aren’t making the Dean’s list for investment performance, but market analysts appear confident that rallying conditions are pushing the sector in a positive direction.

Ontario’s civic building inventory has fallen the farthest behind on capital repair among seven categories of municipal infrastructure assets scrutinized in a newly released report from the Financial Accountability Office of Ontario.

Market analysts anticipate more capital flowing into the sector as vacancies tighten and rental rates rise, and they warn that available space is nearing depletion in Vancouver, Toronto and Montreal if leasing continues at the recent pace.

Removing landlords from the application process hasn’t necessarily made the Canada Emergency Rent Subsidy (CERS) more accessible for commercial tenants experiencing pandemic-related financial stress.

Retrofit proponents unable to contribute at least $6.25 million in equity capital will have to look to third-party interveners in order to tap into the Canada Infrastructure Bank’s $2-billion fund for commercial buildings.

Securities regulators wish to confirm that the representations registrants are making about the incorporation of ESG principles in their investment decision-making processes are consistent with their actual policies and procedures.

Economic fallout from COVID-19 is shifting more of the tax burden to this flourishing group of assets via the mill rate, while also driving up the tax rate, for a double-whammy of consequences in jurisdictions that update valuations annually.