VOL. 36 NO. 1
APRIL/MAY 2021
Editor-in-Chief Barbara Carss barbc@mediaedge.ca Publisher Sean Foley seanf@mediaedge.ca Contributors Kathryn Fuller, Sienne Lau, Lynn McGrade, Rebecca Melnyk, Gerald Ngan, Erin Ruddy, John Stanley Art Director Annette Carlucci annettec@mediaedge.ca Graphic Designer
Thuy Huynh
Web Designer Rick Evangelista rickr@mediaedge.ca Production Manager Rachel Selbie rachels@mediaedge.ca National Sales Bryan Chong bryanc@mediaedge.ca Kelly Nicholls kellyn@mediaedge.ca Blair Wilson blairw@mediaedge.ca Digital Media Director Steven Chester stevenc@mediaedge.ca Circulation circulation@mediaedge.ca Alberta & B.C Sales Dan Gnocato dang@mediaedge.ca
President Kevin Brown kevinb@mediaedge.ca Group Publisher Sean Foley seanf@mediaedge.ca Accounting Anna Kantor annak@mediaedge.ca TEL: (416) 512-8186 • FAX: (416) 512-8344 Published and printed six times yearly as follows: March, April/May, June, Aug/Sept, Oct/Nov, Dec by MediaEdge Communications Inc. 2001 Sheppard Avenue East, Suite 500 Toronto, Ontario M2J 4Z8 (416) 512-8186 Fax: (416) 512-8344 e-mail: circulation@mediaedge.ca Subscription Rates: Canada: 1 year, $60*; 2 years, $110* Single Copy Sales: Canada: $12* Outside Canada: US 1 year, $85 International $110 *Plus applicable taxes Reprints: Requests for permission to reprint any portion of this magazine should be sent to info@mediaedge.ca. Copyright 2021 Canada Post Canadian Publications Mail Sales Product Agreement No. 40063056 ISSN 0834-3357 Authors: Canadian Property Management Magazine accepts unsolicited query letters and article suggestions. Manufacturers: Those wishing to have their products reviewed should contact the publisher or send information to the attention of the editor. Sworn Statement of Circulation: Available from the publisher upon written request. Although Canadian Property Management makes every effort to ensure the accuracy of the information published, we cannot be held liable for any errors or omissions, however caused. Printed in Canada
editor’snote THESE DAYS, public health officials have become something akin to harried parents on a tedious road trip. They’re not only tasked with safely steering the pandemic response through hazardous traffic on an uncharted route, they’re also trapped with restless passengers repeatedly asking: Are we there yet? As is often the case with arduous journeys, we didn’t know exactly what flattening the COVID-19 curve was going to entail when we set out 14 months ago. In those early days, “unprecedented” was an overworked adjective, but, in retrospect, there have been a lot of familiar parallels with the challenges that arise in any long and complicated project. Looking back at the obstacles encountered, fixes formulated and lessons learned, we can be heartened that surely we’ve now covered more ground than the distance still to be travelled. Accordingly, in this issue, we review some of the pandemic’s repercussions for real estate and discuss some possibilities for a pending vaccinated world. Commercial real estate value and investor confidence slipped last year as the Canada Annual Property Index recorded a negative total return for a rare third time in the 21st century, transaction volume fell by about 50% and industry insiders responding to the Canadian Real Estate Sentiment Survey went into the fourth quarter generally feeling less optimistic than they had three months earlier. Nevertheless, industrial assets registered impressive gains in 2020. Economists also underscore one seeming truly unprecedented aspect of the COVID-19-triggered recession. Higher-income earners have largely remained employed and have presumably been stockpiling cash as they await renewed opportunities to spend. Analysts generally concur recovery in the office and retail sectors will be contingent on stable tenants, returning employees and consumer confidence — factors that can’t be accurately gauged until public health restrictions are eased and emergency financial aid programs wind down. For now, there are plenty of theories about COVID-19’s impact on how we work, shop and choose to balance the convenience of home offices and online purchases with needs for social interaction and stimuli. We outline a few of them in this issue. We also explore the burgeoning influence of ESG (environmental, social, governance) frameworks and benchmarks that could underpin the reassurance investors and tenants will be seeking that buildings are secure, healthy and positioned for the next and subsequent post-pandemic disruptions. Meanwhile, in a year when the investment performance gap of industrial and retail assets stretched even wider, updated municipal assessment rolls accentuate that all non-residential property owners have a vested interest in office and retail recovery. We report on tax shifts now occurring in Calgary and Vancouver and the threat of what’s to come in the Greater Toronto Area. Finally, this issue includes the 2021 Who’s Who in Canadian Real Estate survey. Thank you to Gerald Ngan for so ably collecting and coordinating this year’s results. Barbara Carss barbc@mediaedge.ca @BarbaraCarss
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