CANADA Law and Practice Contributed by: Rachel V Hutton, Michael L Dyck, Mario Paura and Miguel Manzano, Stikeman Elliott LLP
transaction volume and new supply, along with higher availability rates. The retail sector continued to perform well, with a focus on larger regional shopping centres and prop - erties with large anchor tenants doing well. The devel - opment of unused areas of shopping centres (such as excess parking) for residential and mixed-use pur - poses remains a significant trend. The residential sector faced headwinds in 2025 in the form of macroeconomic uncertainty and demograph - ic trends coupled with tightened immigration policy. However, a dearth of new condominium launches and construction was accompanied by a continued rise in purpose-built rental projects, fuelled by lower interest rates and the CMHC Apartment Construction Loan Program. Seniors Residences After several ups and downs in recent years, the sen - iors residence market is again very active, in particular in terms of new developments. Quebec has seen mul - tiple transactions in this space, with Chartwell being a major player. Mixed-use projects which combine con - dominium, rental and seniors residences with com - mercial units are also on the rise. Notable Transactions Some of the larger real estate transactions in Canada in recent years have been: • QuadReal Property Group’s sale to Pontegadea of The Post office and commercial complex in Van - couver for a reported CAD1.2 billion; • Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board’s sale of Amica Senior Lifestyles, the leading providers of premium senior living residences in Canada, to Welltower Inc. for CAD4.6 billion; • CLVGROUP and GIC’s purchase of the Interrent portfolio of multi-residential properties for CAD4 billion; • Canada Pension Plan Investment Board, Dream Industrial REIT and Dream Asset Management’s joint venture to acquire CAD3 billion of Canadian industrial properties; and
• Oxford Properties Group’s acquisition from CPP Investments of its 50% interest in seven Calgary and Vancouver office towers for CAD730 million. 1.3 Proposals for Reform Legislative reform at the provincial and federal levels is driven by motivations to create affordable housing and to increase competition. Major Canadian munici - palities have also implemented meaningful planning and development reforms to stimulate growth in the residential sector. The Federal government has introduced a First Time Home Buyers’ GST Rebate (FTHB GST Rebate) to reduce the cost of purchasing newly built homes and to stimulate new housing construction. The measure was announced on 27 May 2025 and the legislation came into force on 12 March 2026. Competition Bureau Guidelines on Commercial Real Estate Restrictive Covenants The Competition Bureau has issued guidance and taken enforcement actions in connection with com - petitor property controls which restrict the use of commercial real estate. The Bureau’s view, which has not been tested in court, is that exclusivity clauses and restrictive covenants regarding use may consti - tute anti-competitive behaviour that could expose the parties involved to fines and penalties. Recent amend - ments to the Competition Act allow the Bureau to take enforcement action in respect of anti-competitive agreements between parties that are not competitors, which could, in principle, capture property controls in existing agreements. Although there is much uncer - tainty in the Canadian market as to how these new provisions will be applied, the Bureau’s interest has, to date, been limited to the grocery sector. Expropriation Changes to the expropriation legislation in Quebec have greatly reduced the parameters under which compensation for expropriation can be made by the expropriated party. In particular, the expropriating authority will only need to consider the actual author - ised use, as opposed to the potential best use, when determining the compensation to be awarded.
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