“An enormous number of conversions” 

In recent months, hardly a week has gone by without Wes Myles getting approached by a condo developer who wants to cash out of a project.

“There are lots of midrise sites stalled right now or in receivership,” says Myles, president and chief investment officer at Toronto’s Clifton Blake Group, a private REIT (Real Estate Investment Trust) that builds and manages boutique, purpose-built rental (PBR) communities.

The condo developers approaching him, he says, can’t pre-sell a sufficient number of units to get construction financing in today’s sluggish condo market.

“No one wants to move [forward on condo projects] because they’re waiting for the market to come back, but there’s an opportunity cost to tying up capital and carrying bank loans indefinitely.”

A decades-old, investor-driven c