Last Updated on October 24, 2023 by Neil Sharma
This Friday, some of the world’s largest institutional investors are convening in Toronto.
Manhattan-based Carmo Companies, an institutional real estate capital introduction consulting firm, will be hosting The Canada Latin America Real Estate Meeting at the Ritz Carlton, where over 250 of the largest institutional investors, endowments, developers, private wealth investors and real estate professionals from Canada, the U.S. and Latin America will meet to network and discuss investment opportunities.
According to Carmo’s President and CEO Roy Salsinha, the meeting is intended as an impetus for sustained cross-border institutional real estate transactions.
“It’s a meeting focused on capital moving both ways between Latin America, the U.S. and Canada, specifically for private equity real estate investment, both directly and indirectly through funds,” said Salsinha. “We’re bringing up a good number of Latin American-based family offices. Most of them are coming from Mexico, Brazil and Colombia, and they’re coming together to network with funds and developers based in Canada and the U.S. We’re also bringing a lot of local institutional investors like pensions and endowments that are investing down there.”
Brookfield Asset Management, Cadillac Fairview, Ivanhoe Cambridge, CPPIB and PSP Investments are just some of the giants that will be in attendance.
Although there is consensus that Canada is among the safest countries in the world in which to invest, the capricious, and often disharmonious, state of American politics has made the Great White North even more attractive to global capital.
“There’s also an appetite for investment in Canada because, pretty obviously, a lot of Latin America-based investors really don’t like the rhetoric, given the U.S. elections, so a lot of them have been looking at other countries to place money and Canada is one of them,” said Salsinha.
Latin America, too, is home to some of the world’s most lucrative investment opportunities. Mexico and Brazil have born witness to a proliferation of shopping malls, for which demand remains strong because of a billowing middle-class with disposable income.
“That’s what’s driving the market, and the growing middle-class leads to demand on the residential side,” said Salsinha. “People are moving into cities in Latin America more and more, and the rental markets are starting to grow, particularly for multi-family buildings.
“There are some big players down there like Greystar, Prudential, CIM Group that are starting to develop this institutional asset class, and some Canadian pension funds are already investing. PSP Investments is investing in the multi-family for-rent space in Mexico. Across the region, there are groups developing this asset class.”
In addition to luxury hotels, industrial demand is also growing rapidly throughout Latin America.
“The rents are in dollars, so that’s always great for investors. There’s been a lot of institutional capital invested down there. It’s one of the safer asset classes to invest in.”
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Neil Sharma is the Editor-In-Chief of Canadian Real Estate Wealth and Real Estate Professional. As a journalist, he has covered Canada’s housing market for the Toronto Star, Toronto Sun, National Post, and other publications, specializing in everything from market trends to mortgage and investment advice. He can be reached at neil@crewmedia.ca.
