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Vast majority of the big names in Canada are in Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal both have a few (QuadReal and Ivanhoe Cambridge are the first two that come to mind for each, respectively).
Definitely the most options in Toronto though, but if you have something lined up in Vancouver there's no reason not to, beautiful city with a great lifestyle.
What else is there in Vancouver beyond QuadReal? Not Canadian but very interested, but just haven’t found a lot of opportunities there.
BentallGreenoak should have a sizeable office in Van. Some of the larger REITs and asset managers (GWLRA, Triovest, Allied REIT...) probably have offices there as well.
Headquartered there? I actually don't know off hand, QuadReal is the only major one that comes to mind. As the other commenter mentioned though, plenty of satellite offices.
CityOffice REIT / Second City is headquartered there.
If you're a skier or like the outdoors, you know the answer
Toronto will have a lot more job opportunities and cheaper COL (but not by much)
would you compare it to New York City ?!
If your focus is to maximize your earnings and your career potential, then I would strongly recommend Toronto over Vancouver.
Several reasons include:
1) Material Pay Cut:
When completing undergrad I received several real estate acquisitions offers in Vancouver and the base salary ranged from 50k - 65k. Comparable roles in Toronto had base salaries from 75k - 85k. People are willing to accept lower salaries in Vancouver to be able to live there (higher amenity city than Toronto) and this delta increases as you advance in your career.
2) Limited Large-Scale Real Estate Companies (excluding development):
Pension Funds with a Real Estate Arm in Toronto include: CPPIB, Oxford Properties, Cadillac Fairview, BentallGreenOak etc. Private Equity Firms: KingSett Capital, Slate Asset Management, Crestpoint, Hullmark, Fiera Properties, Tricon etc. REITs: Vast majority of Canadian REITs headquarters are location in Toronto (RioCan REIT, First Capital REIT etc)
Vancouver headquartered pension funds: QuadReal and Concert Properties. Private Equity: Hungerford and Sandpiper. REITs: American Hotel Income Properties REIT. Vancouver only has an edge in Toronto for development opportunities. Companies include: WestBank, Anthem Properties, Cannacord, Bosa, Grosvenor, Onni, Chard Developments, Bold Properties, Beedie Properties etc.
Thank you so much ! but I assume salaries in Toronto are even lower than what NYC offers ? right ? I already have Masters in Real Estate Development !
Overall canadian salaries are lower in commercial real estate then american ones. Yes Toronto will be like 60% - 70% of NYC salary
Yeah Canada in general will be lower, same applies to just about any industry here.
MSRED won't really matter in Canada if you have no prior real estate experience - it might open the door to an analyst role at some of the pension funds though which do pay better at the analyst level ($80-90k vs. $60-70k typical entry level).
That increased housing cost + lower salaries vs Toronto does sound really annoying though.
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Hello all,
Do any of these funds/reits in Canada are able to recruit international profile in Toronto, Vancouver or at least Montreal? for someone which is working as an investment analyst at a top developer (Hines, Greystar...) and fluent in French?
Thanks
thank you for your reply ! where are you from?
is it really impossible to break into Canadian CRE coming from Europe?
best,
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