At a glance

• Private capital is paying premiums. Minto's $2.3B take-private and InterRent's $4B exit show private valuations running well above public REIT pricing. If you've thought about selling, the demand signal is strong.
• Toronto turned on the AC by bylaw June 1. RentSafeTO buildings without cooling must keep indoor amenity spaces at or below 26°C through September. Check your signage this week.
• Bill 60 is still not in force. The 7-day N4, 15-day appeal window, and 50% arrears rule remain pending. Don't file under the new timelines yet.
• London Ontario is the conversion hot spot. $35,000-per-unit municipal incentive is unlocking deals. Calgary leads nationally at $153M. Toronto and Montreal still offer nothing.
• Lenders are open, but the clock is ticking. Multifamily is back to the #1 sector in 2026 lender appetite surveys. CMHC's MLI Select program tightens in September. If a refi is on your 2026 calendar, start the conversation now.

Ontario's apartment market is moving in three directions at once this month: capital is rotating fast at the top of the market, regulators are tinkering at the edges, and Toronto just turned on the air conditioning by bylaw. Here are the five stories worth keeping an eye on.

Private capital is paying more than public

Minto Apartment REIT is the latest Canadian apartment landlord set to go private. The $2.3 billion deal with Crestpoint Real Estate Investments was announced in January, with the unitholder vote pending. It follows InterRent REIT's $4 billion take-private by CLV Group and Singapore's GIC last year. The pattern is clear. Private market valuations are running materially above public REIT valuations, which is why deep-pocketed private buyers can offer premiums and still get the deal done.

Meanwhile, new private capital pools are forming to absorb what the public REITs leave behind. Peakhill Capital launched Peakhill Opportunity REIT in January with the explicit thesis of buying "undervalued" apartments. A Montreal investor partnered with a French family office to buy Minto's 148-unit The Roe in Midtown Toronto for roughly $67 million net to Minto. And in Sudbury, the private Virtus Diversified REIT just paid $143,000 per unit for a 23-unit walkup, a 52% per-unit gain over the building's last trade in 2022.

What it means for you. If you've thought about selling in the last two years, the depth of private capital chasing deals right now is the strongest demand signal we've seen in this cycle. A deeper piece on what's driving the take-private trend is coming next month.

Toronto turns up the AC, literally

A new RentSafeTO requirement took effect June 1. Apartment buildings that don't provide cooling but have an indoor amenity space must keep that space at or below 26°C from June 1 through September 30. Hallways, lobbies and laundry rooms don't count. Owners are required to post the daily hours of operation of the cooled space on the tenant notification board and maintain the capacity load at all times. The rule doesn't apply if construction would be required to comply.

What it means for you. If you own a RentSafeTO building and rely on common-area amenity rooms (lounges, multipurpose rooms), check the temperature there this week and confirm signage is up. The change is operational rather than financial, but enforcement starts now.

Bill 60 is still on the shelf

The Fighting Delays, Building Faster Act received Royal Assent November 27, 2025. But as of late May 2026, none of the RTA amendments have been proclaimed in force. The shorter 7-day N4 notice for unpaid rent, the 15-day window to appeal an LTB order, the new compensation rules for N12 personal-use evictions, and the 50% arrears-payment rule before a maintenance defence can be raised are all still pending. The current 14-day N4 and 30-day appeal window remain the live rules.

Tribunals Ontario says it's preparing forms, IT systems and adjudicator training in coordination with the government, but no proclamation date has been announced. Adding to the uncertainty, the Ontario Human Rights Commission has filed formal submissions against several of the proposed changes, including the 50% arrears rule, arguing they block Code-protected defences. The final shape of the regulations is still being negotiated.

What it means for you. Do not file paperwork under the new timelines. The old rules are still the rules.

London Ontario is the conversion story to watch

Office-to-residential conversions are starting to move, but not evenly. Calgary set aside $153 million for its downtown conversion program and has multiple towers underway. London, Ontario offers developers $35,000 per unit and has emerged as the Ontario hot spot. Toronto and Montreal, by contrast, offer no direct funding (Toronto is currently running an Office Space Needs Study).

GTA-specific analysis identified roughly 62 office buildings totalling just over 1 million square feet that meet the physical criteria for conversion: small floor plates, elevated vacancy, locations that work for residential demand. That's not a market-wide opportunity. It's a narrow but very real one for owners of specific older Class B/C office product.

What it means for you. If you own older office or mixed-use stock in an Ontario secondary market, watch your municipality's policy file. London's $35,000-per-unit incentive was the variable that flipped the math.

Lenders are open, but watch September

Multifamily has moved back to the #1 sector in Canadian commercial lender appetite surveys for 2026. First National, CMLS Financial and Equitable Bank are all publicly leaning into the space. EQB alone funded $4.3 billion in insured multi-unit in 2025. Spreads have tightened from 2024, and the Bank of Canada's 2.25% policy rate is holding.

The catch: CMHC's MLI Select program, the workhorse behind most insured apartment financing, has an energy-efficiency tightening scheduled for September 2026. Lenders are publicly flagging it as a near-term application catalyst. If you're refinancing, building, or considering a CMHC-insured purchase this year, the window before September is meaningfully different from the window after.

What it means for you. A deeper piece on the MLI Select changes is coming next month. In the meantime, if a 2026 refi is on your calendar, get the conversation started with your lender now.

Terry Riddoch

If you would like to talk through how any of this applies to a building you own or one you are considering, I am always happy to walk through the numbers.

Terry Riddoch
Real Estate Broker -- Multifamily and Investment Properties, Ontario

Phone: 519 591 1725
Email: [email protected]
Web: www.terryriddoch.ca

Sources: CMHC, Tribunals Ontario, Ontario Human Rights Commission, City of Toronto RentSafeTO, First National, CMLS Financial, Equitable Bank, Canadian Mortgage Trends, Paid Subscriptions.