More than $2bn worth of apartment properties in Ontario have changed hands in the year-to-date period through mid-November, according to Green Street’s Sales Comps Database.
The total reflects completed sales of operating rental multifamily assets and residential development sites, though development sites represent only about $200m of the total. That’s a sharp change from last year, when development sites comprised almost half of the $2.66bn full-year total.
The lion’s share of the 2024 deals – $1.4bn – stems from Toronto transactions, while Ottawa deals represent $180.6m. None of those deals involved development sites. In 2023, Toronto sales totaled $1.18bn, with development sites comprising $744.5m of that, while deals in Ottawa tallied $483.9m, including about $70m of development sites.
This year, deal activity spiked in June as sellers hastened to close ahead of an increase in the capital-gains inclusion that went into effect on June 25. However, the last several months have seen a resurgence of sizable multifamily deals.
Allied Properties REIT notched the largest single-property deal of the year in April, buying an additional 45% stake in 19 Duncan Street, in Toronto, from Westbank for $248.4m. The deal took the company’s ownership in the mixed-use asset, with 464 rental residential units, to 95%.
Starlight Investments and Equiton also have made several big buys this year. In late September, Starlight paid Oxford Properties $216.3m, or $350,000/unit, for a two-property portfolio in Toronto. The package comprised the 372-unit Forest Lane at 300 Antibes Drive and the 246-unit Wyldewood at 120 Torresdale Avenue.
This month, Starlight and BGO bought the 227-unit Fourteen75 at 1475 Whites Road, in Pickering, for $127m, or $559,000/unit.
Equiton in September paid $130.2m for four properties with a total of 346 units in Toronto. The valuation worked out to $376,000/suite. The seller was a joint venture between Blackstone and Starlight.
Other big deals include Capreit’s $130m, or $447,000/unit, purchase of Alto Towers, at 549 Fanshawe Park Road West in London, from York Developments, and Solmar Development’s $125m deal for a Bolton property at 12561 Centreville Creek Road.
Notably, Brookfield announced the year’s largest multifamily deal in the province in recent weeks. It has agreed to purchase two large complexes in Toronto from Greenrock for $437.2m, or $368,000/unit. RBC Capital Markets is brokering the deal.
Broker activity
In June, JLL brokered the $101m sale of 2000 Sheppard Avenue West in Toronto. QMW Corp. paid $316,000/unit for the high-rise property. JLL also represented Vandyk Properties in its sale of Kings Mill at 15 Neighbourhood Lane in Toronto.
Cushman & Wakefield’s largest apartment deal this year was the sale of a 50% stake in Birchmount Green Condo in Toronto by Mahogany Management. KingSett Capital paid $52.3m, or $238,000/unit, for the interest. Cushman also worked on the $25.9m, or $275,000/unit, sale of Jolan Properties, at 1640 Lawrence Avenue West in Toronto, to Lankin Investments.
Among its deals this year, Avison Young worked on the sale of a two-property portfolio – comprising the Governor Metcalfe and the Montclair – in Ottawa to InterRent REIT for $48m, or $199,000/unit. Also in Ottawa, Avison brokered the sale of Aspen Towers at 2935 Richmond Road for $22.5m, or $155,000/unit.
In Toronto, Colliers brokered the sale of 810 Royal York Road for $15m, or $250,000/unit, and 80 South Forster Park Drive in Oakville for $10.2m, or $340,000/unit. Both deals closed in June.
Bosley Real Estate brokered the $1.2m sale of 910 Eglinton Avenue East in May.
