Meet TREB's New Prez

Incoming Toronto Real Estate Board president Paul Etherington has spent the bulk of his 30-year career in residential sales. Still, he recognizes the intrinsic link between housing and commercial real estate. (See, we can all just get along.)

"The markets run in parallel," Paul, a broker with RE/MAX First Realty in Pickering, tells us the day after starting his new gig. If commercial space is being occupied, it's because jobs are being created. "And the people getting these jobs are buying houses." (And then they buy stuff for their houses, and that stuff needs to be stored in places, and those places need supplies which they call offices for. The circle of real estate life.)

Paul has served on TREB's board of directors for 12 terms and was previously chair of its finance and ethics committees. He'll be formally introduced as the board's new prez at the TREB AGM Oct. 24. Paul says his goal is to tell the world why GTA real estate is a solid investment. When not talking up the virtues of owning Toronto property, he plays beer-league hockey twice a week, but claims he's not the competitive type. "I do it for the fun of it. Been doing it my whole life."

New figures from TREB show space leased in the GTA in Q2 was up sharply versus the same time last year, with industrial accounting for almost three quarters of leased space. More than 5.8M SF got leased in Q2, up 15.6% from 2013 and 10.8% year-over-year. With export-focused production representing much of the GTA's industrial activity, Paul says a continued uptick in industrial leasing could mean businesses are readying for an upturn in export orders. 239 commercial properties sold via MLS in Q2, a dip from the 342 last year. Average selling prices were also down.