As announced in the provincial budget, the Ontario government plans to equalize the business education tax (BET) rate at 0.88 per cent for 2021, equating to a $450-million tax cut province-wide.

The commercial property tax rate is at least double the residential rate in eight of the 11 surveyed cities, with commercial ratepayers in Montreal, Toronto and Quebec City shouldering the most disproportionate shares.

The bulk of findings in the newly released Altus Group Global Property Development Trends Report are tied to opinions collected in early 2020 before COVID-19’s full hit landed in the world’s commercial real estate markets.

Proposals address a range of issues that are likely to be of interest to listed real estate entities and their investors, as well as start-up ventures and other publicly traded service providers to the industry.

Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance will be offered for a sixth month. The announcement comes eight days after the portal for new applications for the relief program appeared to be closed.

With the August 31 deadline for first-time applications for Canada Emergency Commercial Rent Assistance (CECRA) now passed, the three-month program that evolved into five months of relief is closed to new recipients.

Under COVID-19-induced pressure, investors, lenders and public markets are signalling a preference for multifamily assets. The asset class was the top attractor of investment dollars in Canada’s commercial real estate market during the first half of 2020.

Market analysts typify a second quarter uptick in downtown sublet activity as a spurt, not a glut. However, they project the trend is likely to continue.

Canada once again places in the top tier of “highly transparent” nations in the newly released 2020 edition of the JLL/LaSalle Global Real Estate Transparency Index.

There is plenty of uncertainty and little consensus on the economic outlook for Canada and the United States. It is becoming clear that it will not be a V-shaped recovery, and it is more likely to be uneven and prolonged.

Results of a wide-ranging survey show many major Canadian commercial real estate players braced for the erosion of consumer confidence, tenant solvency and their own investment returns.

Thus far, in most markets, there’s been no spurt of office sublets or rent discounts that conventionally signify an economic downturn, but there has been a flurry of conjecture about the forces COVID-19 may have unleashed.

The CECRA program is voluntary. Not all eligible landlords will necessarily take advantage of this program for various reasons.

Commercial real estate operators are seeking advice across a wide spectrum of expertise as they deploy their crisis management, business continuity and recovery plans.

Landlords and tenants are continuing to move lease transactions forward in anticipation of a return to business as usual in the near future.

The move was announced in response to the COVID-19 outbreak, but additionally opens a window to adjust the mechanics of the assessment process itself.

REALPAC’s recent survey of 15 Canadian open-end real estate funds offers insight into when and why fund administrators would suspend the ability for investors to redeem their holdings.