On afterthoughts

Funny that this doesn't get mentioned until the end of the Globe and Mail's attack on corporate property tax rates, long after the mandatory dose of anti-tax hysteria:

(Commercial property tax rates) don’t seem to be hurting the country’s investment landscape, however, with the value of commercial property deals set to reach $16-billion by the end of the year, according to Avison Young.

That’s $4-billion more than in 2009, powered largely by real estate investment trusts that have been able to raise millions of dollars to invest in office, industrial, retail, land and multi-residential properties.

“This upswing is attributed to a number of factors, including stable and improving market fundamentals, historically low borrowing costs, high availability of debt, a narrowing bid-ask gap and the emergence of REITs as active buyers,” said Avison Young’s director of research Bill Argeropoulos.

Office sales have accounted for about $2.3-billion of 2010’s sales, Mr. Argeropoulos said.