A strong year for retail – despite the exit of one of Canada's most iconic brands, Hudson Bay. A slower, but steady time for the industrial sector. A dramatically different set of circumstances in multifamily.

Perhaps most notably, there are more green shoots in the office sector, where a recovery seems to be underway for owners and operators of premium space – but not for all.

Finally, at least in some CRE sectors, there's been a loosening of the availability of debt, with more lenders increasing activity within the markets. Caution is still the watchword but after a "pens down" period, transaction activity has picked up. When we see the final year-end figures, early in 2026, we'll know by how much.

Welcome to the final days of 2025. And welcome to our annual RENX Top-20 stories of the past 12 months. Our list includes some major transactions as well as recognition of major trends and touchpoints within commercial and multifamily real estate.

While those within the industry kept searching for some sense of certainty, or clarity, what most of us continued to see were rapidly changing conditions. A reversal of Canada's stunning population growth rate, the ongoing trade and tariffs upheaval under a radically changed U.S. government, an indication that interest rates are likely to have stabilized and stronger return-to-office mandates are all impacting fundamentals.

The pre-sale condo and for-sale housing markets continue to show weakness, even as pent-up demand grows.

Some well-known players have struggled mightily, or failed completely. Others have charted expansion courses and are executing. We've tried to use our Top-10, listed here, to showcase not just individual activity but major themes within the industry.

You can decide for yourself whether or not we have succeeded, but we hope you enjoy perusing this list.

Our top stories list

One final note: As always with our year-end selections, we have placed the Top-10 in a numbered order, starting with what we feel were the most impactful articles, sectors, trends and companies. Nos. 11 to 20 – available via our year-end newsletter – are not listed in any particular order.

1. InterRent REIT agrees to $4B acquisition by CLV Group, GIC

InterRent, one of Canada’s largest multifamily housing owners, agreed to be acquired by Ottawa's CLV Group and Singapore’s GIC in a $4B transaction. It's the second straight year such a transaction tops our list (Blackstone announced its deal to acquire Tricon in 2024).

2. Can retail owners absorb millions of square feet of HBC space?

Hudson’s Bay Company closed dozens of department stores across Canada after sliding into bankruptcy proceedings – putting millions of square feet of prime retail space onto the leasing market. Canada's major retail owners, however, have had no qualms about HBC's demise.

3. Colliers to acquire Triovest from Coril Holdings

Colliers has spent the past couple of years significantly expanding its reach and its business footprint. Early in 2025, it made another big move announcing a deal to buy Triovest's Canadian CRE services platform from Coril Holdings.

4. QuadReal sells The Post office towers in downtown Vancouver

QuadReal Property Group sold a landmark Vancouver office and commercial property, the recently-reimagined The Post complex, in one of the year's marquee CRE transactions. It came amid a sudden spike in activity in the sector as return-to-office mandates gained traction.

5. Grosvenor gets $763M CMHC loan for Burnaby rental towers

Grosvenor announced in October, a massive CMHC loan to construct two purpose-built rental towers at Burnaby's Brentwood Block. As CMHC became the de facto lender for multires developments, it was one of several huge loan packages within the sector.

6. Rogers to sell 9 Canadian data centres to InfraRed Capital

Toronto telecom titan Rogers Communications Inc. agreed in August to sell nine Rogers Business data centres to infrastructure investment manager InfraRed Capital Partners – a U.K.-based subsidiary of Canadian-owned Sun Life. It reflected another year of major DC sector growth.

7. Chartwell’s $1-billion (and counting) year of growth

The seniors housing sector also stayed hot, hot, hot for investors. And no Canadian company was busier than Chartwell Retirement Residences, which hit $1 billion in acquisitions ... and just kept on going.

8. Court filing cancels One Bloor West presales, relaunch

Despite the state of the Toronto condo market, values remain much higher than seven years ago. So, Tridel and the court-appointed monitor for One Bloor West applied for, and then won, court approval to cancel almost all existing presale agreements.

9. Oxford acquires 100% stake in 7 office towers: $730M

Oxford Properties wasn't the first back in, but it certainly was a big player as office activity picked up, investing $730M to acquire the 50 per cent interest in seven Calgary and Vancouver towers previously owned by CPP Investments.

10. Investors are all-in on retail strip centres, from coast to coast

Strip malls across Canada, especially those anchored by grocery stores and pharmacies, remained a hot asset throughout the year. We published this article in February, but the buying spree continued right into the final weeks of 2025.

For the full list of our Top-20 articles, please visit our RENX Year-End 2025 Newsletter. That list also contains additional links to related articles, adding additional context to the selections.

And last, but certainly not least: From all of us at RENX and Squall Media, to all of you ... thank you for the faith you place in us by reading our publications. Best wishes for a very Merry Christmas, a Happy Holiday Season and a Happy New Year.