Above Average Transaction Volumes, Persistent Demand and Foreign Capital Driving Canada's Commercial Investment Property Market

"We see the current phase of the commercial real estate as durable," added Reading. "Canada's federal budget contained few surprises. The national inflation rate was unchanged for the quarter and our continued confidence in the U.S. economy lead us to believe that current market conditions for commercial real estate will remain supportive for the foreseeable future. In this environment, investors will look to enter into forward purchases, and pursue creative development and redevelopment opportunities."

Morguard has a strong track record for providing creative real estate solutions that drive performance. A successful example of this is Heritage Place in Ottawa's downtown core, located at 155 Queen Street. Morguard created value with a revitalization and remerchandising strategy at the 218,000 square foot Class A Office tower, including a negotiation with the City to secure a LRT station as part of the new  Confederation Line. The station, to be called Parliament Station, is scheduled for completion in 2018 and will have an entrance into the main lobby of Heritage Place.  Connection to transit is an important key market differentiator for tenants.

Investors continued to favour Canada's office sector with growing interest in unique, creative and value add properties including connection to transit.

The First Quarter Update of the 2017 Economic Outlook and Market Fundamentals Research Report, released today by Morguard Corporation, provides a detailed analysis of the 2017 real estate investment trends to watch in Canada. The full report is available at www.morguard.com.

About Morguard Corporation

Morguard Corporation is a major North American real estate and property management company.  It has extensive retail, office, industrial, hotel and residential holdings owned directly and through its investment in Morguard Real Estate Investment Trust, Morguard North American Residential REIT and Temple Hotels Inc. Morguard also provides real estate management services to institutional and other investors.  Morguard's owned and managed portfolio of assets is valued at $21.6 billion.

For more information, please visit www.morguard.com

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SOURCE Morguard Corporation