As little as a year ago, Canadian real estate investment trusts were among the darlings of the investment world -- on the rise and in demand.
Now, battered by a deepening global economic recession and a crippling credit crunch, many of them are in full retreat. Lenders and investors are giving them the cold shoulder, unit prices have tanked, and debt reduction, not acquisitions, are top of mind.
Winnipeg has six locally based REITs, and several of them have been active players in the local commercial real estate market.
Lanesborough REIT, for example, owns six apartment blocks in Manitoba. And its sister trust, Huntingdon REIT, owns 37 office, retail and industrial properties in the province.
It had 38 up until last Thursday, when it sold one of the jewels in its portfolio -- the downtown cityplace office/retail complex -- for $80.5 million.
