Market Insights

From Urban Toronto – Twelve development applications and planning decisions were adopted or advanced by Toronto City Council in April, 2026, ranging from small-scale infill to multi-phase communities. The approvals greenlight over 3,500 new residential units, with a strong emphasis on purpose-built rental housing, accounting for 1,640 units, including at least 18 affordable rental homes and multiple projects tied to existing rental sites with tenant protections and upgrades. Several mid-rise and low-rise proposals contribute to incremental intensification across established neighbourhoods, while larger approvals highlight ongoing efforts to deliver complete communities with new streets, parkland, and public infrastructure. One application was refused. All the numbers are detailed below.

From RENX.ca – Toronto private investment firm High Art Capital has launched its GTA Rental and Affordable Housing Initiative, a fund expected to be capitalized with a minimum of $1.3 billion to acquire blocks of new, unsold condominiums across the Greater Toronto Area for conversion into long-term rental housing.

From RENX.ca – Over the past two decades, condominium development has dominated Toronto’s housing landscape. It shaped our skyline, fuelled growth and, particularly in the last decade, became the city’s de facto rental supply through an investor-driven, shadow rental market.

From Altus Group – Throughout 2025, the Canadian commercial real estate market underwent a strategic reassessment, concluding the fiscal year with structural resilience despite a complex macroeconomic backdrop. Based on Altus Data Studio data, total investment volume reached $52.9 billion, representing a marginal 6% year-over-year decline. However, this figure’s downward trajectory was largely attributed to an atypical surge in activity during the second quarter of 2024, when investors accelerated deal closures to precede a proposed capital gains tax increase.

From Storeys.com – You can have a development proposal for a beautiful building, or a financially-viable affordable rental project, or a sprawling transit-oriented mixed-use community, but you can’t do anything without support from lenders. So, knowing what lenders are thinking can go a long way.

From RENX.ca – The report analyzed the responses of 47 domestic and foreign lenders, representing over $200 billion in commercial real estate loans under management combined, to a 30-question survey on activity expectations, lending terms and criteria, lender sentiment and preferences that was conducted from Dec. 10 to Jan. 16.