Barbara Carss
Construction Business
Infrastructure investment a go-to in downturn
For public partners, P3s are a means to transfer risk. For the private sector, infrastructure’s recession-proof profile dovetails with expectations for a prolonged building spree.
Canadian Property Management
Robust yields ongoing for industrial landlords
Market analysts and asset managers express confidence that the industrial sector will be buoyant into the future despite current global economic uncertainty.
Canadian Property Management
Ontario boosts energy efficiency spending
The Ontario government has pledged $342 million in additional energy efficiency spending to be rolled out between the spring of 2023 and the end of 2024.
Canadian Apartment Magazine
Housing supply-demand imbalance set to persist
Recent CMHC analysis concludes that approximately 3.5 million additional dwelling units are needed to meet demand and pull prices back into closer alignment with purchasers’ and tenants’ incomes.
Canadian Property Management
Electricity grid capacity a 2030 imperative
Electricity grid capacity is critical to enable the buildings and transportation sectors to move away from fossil fuels and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.
Canadian Property Management
Fossil-fuel-fired power plants placed on notice
Utilities and other entities selling power into public transmission and distribution networks have about 12 years to cut the greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions from their production processes down to near-zero levels.
Canadian Property Management
Property tax relief looks iffy in New Brunswick
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.
Canadian Property Management
Fuel-switching challenges expected to ease
Climate, cost and capacity pose fuel-switching challenges for building owners looking to curb greenhouse gas emissions in line with Canada’s target for a 40 per cent reduction below 2005 levels by 2030.
CondoBusiness
Special assessments foreseen as CPI rises
Coming out of an extended period of low inflation, many condo boards will confront reserve fund shortfalls as the consumer price index now pushes up toward 7 per cent.
Canadian Property Management
Flammable refrigerants spark GHG reductions
Researchers and manufacturers have now done much of the work to prepare for the HFC phase-down, but codes and standards will need to catch up before a new generation of lower-GWP refrigerants can be used.
Canadian Property Management
Commercial leases attract political attention
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..
Canadian Property Management
Electricity price embedding cycle begins anew
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.
Canadian Apartment Magazine
Ukrainian evacuees arrive to housing scarcity
Newcomers will be confronting Canada’s affordable housing shortage, while also dealing with potential trauma, language barriers and the general culture shock of unfamiliar surroundings.
Canadian Property Management
Business case assumptions evolve alongside ESG
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.
Canadian Property Management
Sustained industrial rent growth foreseen
Investors are expressing confidence in sustained industrial rent growth, as new supply is not expected to catch up with rampant demand any time soon.
Canadian Apartment Magazine
Multifamily rent slippage deemed temporary blip
Multifamily assets posted the largest year-over-year decline in net operating income among the four major sectors in the Canada Annual Property Index, while delivering a 7 per cent total return on investment for 2021.
Canadian Property Management
Updated model green lease attuned to the 2020s
REALPAC’s newly updated model green lease for Canadian office buildings introduces measures aligned with the broadening demand for ESG reporting and performance outcomes.
