CRE Leaders Weigh in on State of Canadian Market

News| May 29, 2025|

Canada’s commercial real estate market will get through the tumult and uncertainty now affecting it without having suffered permanent damage.

That was a prevailing sentiment as industry leaders weighed in on the state of the market Wednesday at the Connect Canada conference in downtown Toronto.

“These are clearly changing times in real estate,” said Peter Ballon, president of Royalhill Capital.

In some ways the market is normal, with some sectors overheated, he added. But the causes of the disruption vary considerably from those that affected the market in decades gone by.

Today’s factors range from the effects of U.S. President Donald Trump’s tariff policies to economic shocks and numerous other factors not seen previously.

“These causes really are different,” he said. “There’s just so many to pay attention to.”

The uncertainty affecting the market means that investors are not willing to commit capital. Uncertainty results in a frozen market, he added, indicating that some sectors, such as office, are more affected than others.

“Most of the Trump issues were shakedowns,” said Ballon, adding that the majority have been resolved.

Things will change after Trump leaves office at the conclusion of his four-year term, he added.

In Ballon’s view, the key is for investors to learn how real estate can operate more efficiently. But many points are not understandable at the moment.

He also expects artificial intelligence to have a large, unprecedented impact on the market in the years to come.

“I don’t think we understand the impact for the workforce,” he said.

A positive: Companies that understand, and are aware of, the changes will be able to profit from them. But companies that will not be able to follow traditional real estate models.

The conference’s topics of discussion ranged from that state of the Greater Toronto Area commercial real estate sector. Panelists in that session indicated that they expect region’s CRE sector to come out of the disruption and carry on as it has for decades.

There are many opportunities in the Canada’s industrial sector, said Diana Hoang, owner and managing director of Toronto-based Spear Realty.

Industrial property owners who could not divest their holdings are rightsizing and improving them instead, said Damon Conrad, Royal LePage Commercial’s top executive in Canada.

On the whole, well-funded investors are getting a lot of deals done, he added.

Conrad told Connect afterward that he found the conference as a whole “incredibly insightful.”

“I was pleased to participate in the dialogue,” he said.

Conrad praised organizers for bringing “the right voices into the room at the right time.”

Adaptability and ingenuity are now core advantages. Legacy thinking won’t solve next-gen challenges — and as the market begins to stabilize, those willing to lead with bold action will shape what’s next.

“[Wednesday] was a valuable opportunity to level-set where the industry stands — and more importantly, to align on where we need to go.”