Canada Life Real Estate Fund

Established in 2005, the Canada Life Real Estate Fund invests in units of the Great-West Life Real Estate Fund. 

 

Fund Performance

as of  December 31. 2022

$6.5B

in real estate assets

$7.0B

in total assets

128

properties

Source of Return

2013201420152016201720182019202020212022
Income 4.7%4.8%4.5%4.5%4.5%4.3%4.2%3.8%3.8%3.3%
Capital 6.1%2.6%0.1%0.9%1.8%2.7%4.9%(1.3)%7.8%3.9%
Total 10.8%7.4%4.7%5.4%6.3%7.1%9.1%2.5%11.6%7.2%

Compound rates of return

(gross of investment management fees)
Three Month – Q4 -0.15%
Year-to-date 7.24%
One Year 7.24%
Three Year 7.06%
Five Year 7.47%
Ten Year 7.19%

Diversification by property type

By property type (millions)

Retail 9.0% $ 576
Office 27.5% $ 1,765
Industrial 31.1% $ 2,001
Residential 27.0% $ 1,733
Other 5.4% $ 352

Diversification by region

By region (millions)

British Columbia 10.5% $ 678
Alberta 9.9% $ 637
Prairies 1.2% $ 76
Ontario 67.0% $ 4,306
Quebec 10.4% $ 667
Atlantic 0.8% $ 52
U.S. 0.2% $ 12

Quarterly Highlights

Q4 2022 Canada Life Real Estate Fund Bulletin

The Canadian Real Estate Fund No.1 posted a 7.2% total gross return for the calendar year of 2022.  The industrial and residential segments of the portfolio led performance as each benefited from favorable market dynamics leading to significant rental rate growth.  The overall result was balanced between income and capital and inline with longer term three (7.1%) and five (7.5%) year total performance.   Occupancy once again exceeded 90%, concluding the year at 91.3%.  While the office sector continues to face headwinds as tenants consider their post pandemic ‘back to the office’ strategies, all other asset classes (residential (2.85%), industrial (2.03%) and retail (3.69%)) continued to perform admirably.  Key updates from the quarter’s activities follow:

261 Abbotside, Caledon, ON
261 Abbotside, Caledon, ON
8350-8450 Lawson, Milton, ON
Bayview Village, Toronto, ON
Development Update

261 Abbotside Way is a 138,000 square foot, 36 foot clear height industrial building that resides on a 7.9 acre parcel of land in Caledon, ON, with direct access to Highway 410 offering great connectivity to labour and surrounding GTA markets.  The building has been designed with the ability to accommodate a wide variety of tenants with demising flexibility.  The site was acquired in late 2020 with construction commencing in December 2021 and is now nearing completion, which is expected early in 2023.  Further detail is available at the following link:       https://261abbotsideway.com/

Financing Activity

Ideally located in the heart of the Annex/Yorkville area of Toronto, 50 Prince Arthur is a best-in-class rental apartment building featuring large, updated suites and serviced by an extensive list of in-house amenities as well as being just a short walk from some of the city’s largest attractions.  In Q3 management completed a new $65M CMHC insured financing initiative at the asset, moving the Fund’s LTV to 19.2%, which is up 150 bps since the beginning of 2022.  The Fund employs a conservative, fixed rate, debt strategy with an average in place weighted average interest rate of 3.3%. 

Forward Outlook

The Bank of Canada has begun to signal a conditional pause to the interest rate hike cycle which has seen the policy rate grow from 0.25% to 4.25% across seven consecutive hikes in 2022.  Stabilization of the interest rate environment would be a welcome signal and help provide economic and investor confidence. The Fund is well positioned going into 2023 with just 9.4% of the commercial portfolio’s leases expiring.  Combined with strong in-place occupancy, the limited rollover exposure in 2023 should continue to ensure steady income performance for all stakeholders. 

The Segregated Funds described in this bulletin are offered through a variable insurance contract issued by The Canada Life Assurance Company.

Please note that unit values and investment returns will fluctuate, and past performance is not necessarily indicative of future performance.

For IVIC investors: A description of the key features of the segregated fund policy is contained in the information folder.

Downloads

Latest annual report

Latest bulletin

Past Performance Reports

Quarterly Bulletins

Q4 2022 Bulletin PDF (480 KB)
Q3 2022 Bulletin PDF (1 MB)
Q2 2022 Bulletin PDF (1 MB)
Q1 2022 Bulletin PDF (2 MB)

Annual Reports

Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund - Annual Report 2021 PDF (5 MB)
Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund - Annual Report 2020 PDF (3 MB)
Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund - Annual Report 2019 PDF (5 MB)
Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund - Annual Report 2018 PDF (4 MB)
Canadian Real Estate Investment Fund – Annual Report 2017 PDF (4 MB)

Want to Invest?

Contact a Canada Life advisor to invest in the Canada Life Real Estate Fund.