Insights

Winners, Losers & Disappointments

Bill 67 would slam the door on any potential of tax relief for Quebec businesses that have been negatively impacted by the government enforced COVID-19 pandemic restrictions.

If you own infrastructure, you need to maintain it effectively and allocate sufficient funds to do so.  The consequences of continually deferring maintenance are serious, will lead to business continuity issues and, at worst, health and safety compromises.

Facilities maintenance is crucial to keeping deferral costs down and preventing premature building failure, and what is most important is to ensure the right maintenance is carried out as effectively and efficiently as possible. In order to achieve success in facilities maintenance, and effectively mitigate risk and improve outcomes, a business should always consider these seven keys.

The City of Edmonton's 2021 Pre-Roll Consultation Period will commence on November 23, 2020 and end on December 16, 2020.

Ongoing answers to your questions about CMHC's Rapid Housing Initiative. This program was launched to address housing affordability and homelessness in Canada's most vulnerable communities.

Opportunities, big ideas, and how we can support one another.

An update to Marlon Bray's March post on how the pandemic would impact construction costs and escalation on the short, medium and long term.

Our report explores how the property development industry is building resilience in the 'new normal'

There’s no need to be to be a real estate expert to see that social distancing measures and the shutdown of nonessential businesses represent a hard blow to shopping centre owners.

The last few months has allowed us to evaluate the immediate impact of the measures imposed to counter the spread of the virus, in addition to the partial lifting of those measures on the various types of real estate assets.

​It’s very common for developers, contractors and consultants to estimate construction cost escalation, for all asset types and trades, based on a single number or range. This is dangerous and can lead to grossly inaccurate development budgets and forecasts, and more time (and money) spent on contingency plans down the road.

Rushmore approach criticized by District Court of Appeals has impact for similar cases moving forward.

The point of time is an important distinction as the ‘base date of assessment’, or the date in which a value is derived in any given assessment year.

A crisis typically speeds up what was going to happen anyway. After the longest CRE expansion anyone can remember, the COVID-19 pandemic has pushed forward multiple disruptions to business as usual that have been coming for years.

With the transition to centralized assessment of oil and gas properties in the province, ratepayers are being invited to link their wellsite equipment packages to the associated Alberta Energy Regulator ("AER") well license.

The City of Calgary’s 2021 Pre-Roll Consultation Period will commence on October 1, 2020 and end on November 6, 2020.

Taxpayers now wait another year before the effects of the pandemic are reflected in assessed values.

As a hotel owner or manager in British Columbia, what do you need to know about managing your property taxes while facing the pandemic?

This is an optimal time for hotel owner-operators to determine if your properties are positioned to be winners in the marketplace that will emerge – or whether an alternative use for these assets, such as conversion to multi-family housing, might be a more financially rewarding option.

Provincial and municipal property tax relief programs including deferrals, rebates/abatement programs for commercial real estate owners, landlords, and tenants during COVID-19.

Shortlisted companies are organisations and individuals that represent the best of the best in tech and real estate at a time when a drive for change has never been more important

Managing infrastructure project delivery risks in the ‘new environment’ requires an appreciation of current developments and how these changes affect infrastructure projects moving forward. What are the current risks and/or influencing factors? And, how could these be mitigated in the near and long term?

There’s no need to be to be a real estate expert to see that social distancing measures and the shutdown of nonessential businesses represent a hard blow to shopping centre owners.

With infrastructure projects, there are always a multitude of unknown risks and activities that occur during the conceptual development of the project and surround the project feasibility/planning and procurement phases.

As a hotel owner or manager in Alberta, what do you need to know about managing your property taxes while you face oil prices and the pandemic?

Cost estimates are one of the best problem-solving tools an owner, design team and construction manager have at their disposal. However, they are often treated as a formality, pulled together for compliance, when the wealth of information that is contained is often lost and rarely fully-leveraged to the extent it should.

With retirement and long-term care residences at the epicentre of COVID-19 outbreaks in Canada, owners, investors and operators are struggling to address daily operating challenges, while also trying to gain clarity about the potential impact on values going forward.

Provincial and municipal property tax updates including deferrals and rates in Alberta's major markets.

An executive summary of the virtual property tax power breakfast presented by Shawna Burke-Martin and Steven Eady on May 14, 2020.

With a desire to keep soft costs down, there is a reluctance amongst owners to invest more in the design and tendering phases of the project development. However, spending a bit more on the design team prior to construction seems to make a lore more sense, especially with millions of dollars in savings being left on the table.

Colin Johnston, President of the Research, Valuation & Advisory division, discusses the implications of COVID-19 on commercial real estate valuations.

Property owners, property managers, and asset managers are faced with an endless number of decisions relating to the ongoing operation of real estate assets. Occasionally the question ‘What should I do with the property’ arises.

Reductions in on-site labour, temporary construction shutdowns, and new site working protocols due to the COVID-19 pandemic, will cause the real estate and construction industry to feel the effect of this virus for months, and possibly years to come. The following identifies some of the risks, and provide some guidance on key strategies that owners and developers can follow going forward.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Altus Group continues to monitor the response of Provincial and Municipal Governments across Canada to keep the industry informed of additional deferral programs and any developing rebate or abatement programs which could assist Landlords in supporting their tenant’s sustained operations in this challenging environment.

An executive summary of the virtual property tax power breakfast presented by Shawna Burke-Martin and Steven Eady.

A summary of work practices and enhanced infrastructure in place for Altus Group's data and advisory services during the COVID-10 pandemic to provide continued support for all of our clients' business needs.

5 property tax actions you can take right now to address COVID-19 losses - advice from our tax experts at Altus Group

Peter Norman, Vice President & Chief Economist at Altus Group, discusses on how COVID-19 has affected home sales and housing starts in Canada.

What owners, managers and investors can do to mitigate risks on CRE assets during the COVID-19 market disruption.

Looking for asset or portfolio opportunities beyond the coronavirus pandemic

Peter Norman, Vice President & Chief Economist at Altus Group, discusses the economic outlook and what recovery might look like in Canada.

How Altus Group's Canadian data and advisory services responded to COVID-19 with enhanced infrastructure and work practices

A look at the coronavirus impact on municipal and provincial property tax assessments, payments and assessment rolls in Québec

Property tax and value updates for Manitoba during the COVID-19 response

Updates on property tax abatement and deferrals during COVID-19 for Atlantic Canada

Answers to help developers safely navigate the current and potential impacts of the coronavirus pandemic on active construction projects.

Alberta property tax updates during COVID-19, including: appeal proceeding delays, tax abatement, tax deferrals and the AFRI process

What are the potential short, medium and long-term construction cost outcomes of the COVID-19 pandemic

COVID-19 response postpones 2021 reassessment, delays appeals & extends deadlines

Frequently asked questions and answers about property tax relief during and following the COVID-19 pandemic

Practical construction contract and schedule advice related to COVID-19 for professionals in commercial real estate, ICI and P3 infrastructure.

Rising land values and construction costs in the real estate market over the past several years are raising risks for developers, lenders and equity investors. This precarious situation requires a new approach for understanding and managing development risk – an approach with pro formas as the focus.

Arm yourself with the facts before you file an appeal on your industrial property assessment. Altus Group dispels five property tax myths about your industrial property.

Rising land values and construction costs in the real estate market over the past several years are raising risks for developers, lenders and equity investors. This precarious situation requires a new approach for understanding and managing development risk – an approach with pro formas as the focus.

Late in the day on July 2, the Alberta Provincial Government announced an immediate 2019 tax relief program for the province’s shallow gas producers who have been negatively affected by low commodity prices and the corresponding high assessment and property tax values.

Download Altus Group’s 2019 Cost Guide - the Canadian real estate industry’s leading guide to development project costing.

As land values climb and structures wear out, rather than simply selling their property and bidding goodbye to their buildings and land forever, more and more institutional administrators and boards would like to determine whether a redevelopment partnership may be possible to safeguard their future.

Having a reliable, top quality commercial appraisal puts power in your hands. It clarifies and enhances information, reduces risk and ultimately contributes to successfully completing a wide range of real estate transactions. When renewing a mortgage on a property for example, with a timely, accurate appraisal in hand, a borrower can negotiate with a variety of lenders for the best financing terms.

Obligations and opportunities presented by Ontario’s new Construction Act

Tips to manage risks and mitigate the impact of tariffs on construction costs and your bottom line.

An overview of the recent and upcoming provisions Ontario’s Construction Act.

Download Altus Group’s 2018 Cost Guide - the Canadian real estate industry’s leading guide to development project costing.

The process of taking a historic building which has reached the end of its economic life (and which invariably has suffered much physical and functional depreciation), converting it to a new viable use, meeting all building code and provincial/municipal regulations whilst at the same time retaining key heritage features, is quite a daunting task both for developers, owner-occupiers and non-profits alike.

The price paid for most income producing properties is directly related to their current and expected income flow. Verifying the current income flow and estimating the future income flow is a time consuming but important process. Typically, for larger properties, an estimate of cash flow over a 10 year period should be conducted.

In 1995, the majority of retail was represented in enclosed malls followed by neighbourhood strip centers until the introduction of the first power center in the mid 1990’s. Over the past twenty years, the vast majority of growth in retail has occurred through the development and growth of power center locations.