Private investors drove the market in the first half of 2015, making 93% of the acquisitions, Avison Young reports. And while institutional activity was minimal, it accounted for 20% of total dollar volume. Here are the biggest deals to date.
1. The Bay Centre (Victoria)
Sale price: $123M (February)
Sold to: Manulife Real Estate
Significance: B.C.’s largest commercial deal in 2015 to this point, the sale represented over 40% of the first half's overall retail dollar volume. There have been 21 retail asset sales to date ($295M), down from last year but on par with 2013, Avison Young notes.
2. Langara Gardens (Vancouver)
Sale price: $102M for a 50% interest (January)
Sold to: Concert Properties
Significance: The largest of the 26 multifamily deals recorded in the first half of 2015 (total value $370M), and the second-largest transaction in B.C. overall, this was also the only multifamily asset acquired by an institutional investor in Q1/Q2.
3. 7931 Alderbridge Way (Richmond)
Sale price: $63M (February)
Sold to: Private investor
Significance: The acquisition of this dreary plaza, a redevelopment play, is the biggest industrial transaction so far in 2015. Three industrial deals alone totaling $156M accounted for more than 40% of total industrial dollar volume across Metro Vancouver in the first six months of 2015.
4. Knightsbridge Business Park (Richmond)
Sale price: $40.2M (April)
Sold to: Institutional investor
Significance: One of only two deals in the first half that involved both an institutional vendor and purchaser (the other was the Bay Centre sale) led to a spike in industrial investment activity: 27 sales in the first six months ($358M), up from 13 ($163M) this time last year.
5. London Building (626 West Pender St)
Sale price: $27.6M (June)
Sold to: Private Asian investor.
Significance: The biggest office sale of the first half, which recorded 17 transactions—or 24% of total dollar volume—and just four exceeding $15M. Last year saw 15 office deals ($380M) by this point; in 2013 there were only 10 in the same period, according to Avison Young.
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