Retail Trouble & Incoming Tax Cuts

✂️ Here's How Each Party Plans to Cut Your Taxes

• The Liberals have cancelled their plan to raise taxes on capital gains over $250,000, in addition to slashing the carbon tax.

• The Liberal tax cut would lower the lowest income tax bracket by 1%

• Conservatives say they will cut taxes on work, housing, energy, and investment and scrap the carbon tax

• The NDP wants to remove GST from essentials like food and heating, and pay for it with taxes on big companies

📉 Rents Are Falling and Vacancies Are Rising

• Canada’s national rental vacancy rate hit 2.2% in 2024, the highest in decades

• Average asking rents in Canada dropped 4.8% to $2,088 in February, the fifth monthly decline in a row

• One-bedroom rents fell 0.3% to $1,850, down 2.4% year-over-year

• Calgary rents fell 7%, while Edmonton rents rose 3%, due to a building boom adding major supply

• Toronto and Vancouver saw rent declines of 5–6% for studios and other small units

Why This Matters: Condo investors face negative cash flow, often paying $2,300+ in mortgage vs. $2,100–$2,300 in rent income. Affordable cities like Kitchener are seeing mild rent increases as people move away from high-cost areas.

💸 Cadillac Fairview's $200M Bet on Hudson's Bay