Receiverships soar, putting distressed commercial properties on market Real estate professionals say there’s a disconnect in the market as buyers ‘smell blood in the water’ while sellers cling to ‘unrealistic valuations’ Rachelle Younglai, The Globe and Mail Aug 28, 2024 3:30 PM Share by Email Share on Facebook Share on X Share on LinkedIn Print Share via Text Message Over the first half of 2024, there were $803-million worth of distressed commercial property sales in Canada, more than double the amount from the first six months of 2023. Chung Chow, BIV Listen to this article 00:05:45 Buyers smell blood in the water as distressed commercial properties are put up for sale. But so far, sellers of that troubled real estate are refusing to accept rock-bottom values.
With developers filing for bankruptcy protection or lenders forcing their projects into receivership, the number of available properties is on the rise. And, certainly, sales are up substantially: Over the first half of the year, there were $803-million worth of distressed commercial property sales in Canada, according to commercial real estate brokerage Colliers International Group Inc. That is more than double the amount from the first six months of last year.
“It really started to pick up at the end of last year and really kind of took off in the first quarter of this year,” said Jeremiah Shamess, who started Colliers’ private capital investment group and is working on about a dozen distressed asset.