Canadian commercial real estate investment climbed dramatically in the second quarter of 2026, reaching $16.2 billion and hitting its highest quarterly level since early 2022. According to a comprehensive new market report from CBRE, a surge in deal activity and several major high-profile acquisitions significantly boosted overall volumes, signaling a robust resurgence in investor confidence across the country.
The CBRE Q2 2026 Canada Investment Overview reveals that investment volumes surged by 29.6 percent compared to the first quarter of the year. More impressively, the figures represent a substantial 51.6 percent increase when compared with the exact same period last year, demonstrating a decisive market turnaround.
Transaction counts also experienced a healthy upward trajectory, rising 4.8 percent quarter-over-quarter to record 2,146 individual deals. This marks the second-highest quarterly deal count recorded over the past two years, indicating that market activity is not merely driven by a handful of mega-deals, but is instead supported by broad-based transactional momentum.
"Despite some of the negative headlines, the momentum is real and investors believe in Canada," says Peter Senst, president of Canadian Capital Markets at CBRE. "We are on a trajectory that could make 2026 a record year for Canadian commercial real estate investment."
Multifamily Leads Investment Activity
Among all property sectors, the multifamily asset class emerged as the most active, pulling in a staggering $6.5 billion in investment during the second quarter alone. A significant portion of this total—nearly half—was driven by Welltower’s strategic acquisition of Amica Senior Lifestyles, highlighting the powerful impact that large-scale institutional transactions can have on sector-specific totals, according to CBRE data.
Meanwhile, industrial real estate investment reached $2.1 billion, remaining well above its trailing three-year quarterly average and proving that logistics and distribution facilities continue to hold strong appeal for institutional portfolios. The quarter’s single largest individual asset transaction took place within this space, anchored by Pontegadea’s $326 million purchase of a massive Amazon fulfillment centre located in Cambridge, Ontario.
Retail investment also performed admirably, capturing $2.1 billion during the three-month period, while industrial, commercial, and institutional (ICI) land pulled in $1.8 billion. Office investment, which has faced headwinds and shifting structural dynamics in recent years, moderated slightly to $1.5 billion.
Despite the varying performance across different property types, all three of these major categories finished above their respective three-year trailing quarterly averages, underlining a synchronized economic recovery across the commercial real estate landscape.
Foreign Investment Surpasses Recent Annual Totals
Cross-border capital played an exceptionally large role in the quarter’s success, totaling $4.3 billion. This international inflow was once again driven predominantly by the high-profile Welltower-Amica transaction, which bridged international capital markets with Canadian operational assets.
This massive influx of foreign capital brought total foreign investment for the first half of 2026 to $5.1 billion. Remarkably, this six-month figure has already exceeded the full-year totals recorded in each of the previous two calendar years, demonstrating a renewed appetite from international institutional buyers for Canadian real estate exposure.
Foreign investors accounted for 43.9 percent of all acquisitions completed during the second quarter. In comparison, private Canadian investors accounted for slightly more than one-third of overall acquisition activity, reflecting a balanced mix of domestic and international participation in the market’s recovery.
Toronto Accounts for 44 Per Cent of National Volume
Geographically, market activity expanded across the country, with investment volumes registering year-over-year increases in six of the nine major Canadian commercial real estate markets tracked by CBRE.
Toronto dominated national activity, single-handedly accounting for 44 percent of total national investment volume. This concentration of capital in Canada’s largest economic hub was heavily supported by strong fundamentals in both the multifamily and industrial sectors.
At the same time, several smaller and mid-sized markets recorded extraordinary percentage increases in annual investment volumes, pointing to a diversification of investor interest outside the primary urban cores. Investment volumes skyrocketed by 237.1 percent in London, Ontario, rose by 118.5 percent in the Waterloo Region, and advanced by 89.2 percent in Ottawa.
Reflecting on these regional surges and the broader national performance, Senst suggested that persistent global uncertainty may actually be working to Canada’s strategic advantage by burnishing the country’s reputation as a safe haven.
"Canadian commercial real estate is being perceived as a destination that will weather cycles and provide long-term, stable returns over the coming years," Senst noted.