[tendim]

I am in the process of starting to do some in depth analysis on REITs for my blog, and have been looking for a complete list of REITs on the TSX. I've started to pull together information from the stock screener on my own discount brokerage, but if a list already exists I'd prefer to leverage it instead of reinventing the wheel.

Can anyone recommend any sources? To date I've found a few decent sites:

• REIT analysis at Seeking Alpha
• Some of the bigger ones at The Loonie Bin
• Deloitte's REIT Guide

Ironically, the world's online encyclopedia is lacking.

 

[avrex]

You're in luck.

You can see the complete list, that I compiled, as part of my blog post on REITs.
Here are the 43 Canadian REIT companies, that I am aware of, that trade on the TSX.

List of Canadian REITs

 

[HaroldCrump]

^ A couple of names are missing that I can think of:

- Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF.U)
- GT Canada Medical (MOB.UN)
- True North Apartments (TN.UN)

If I recall any other missing, I will update this thread.

 

[avrex]

thanks, Harold.
I appreciate any updates/corrections.

 

[tendim]

You can see the complete list, that I compiled, as part of my blog post on REIT ETFs.
If you scroll down, you can see the 40 Canadian REIT companies, that I am aware of.

Very nice, thanks Avrex. I had actually just finished my list today, and logged back onto the forums. Your list was a great sanity check. I did find one entry on my own list that isn't on yours, Huntingdon Capital.

- Pure Multi-Family REIT (RUF.U)
- GT Canada Medical (MOB.UN)
- True North Apartments (TN.UN)

I didn't see these before because they were on the TSX Venture Exchange. Any comments on how good or bad a Venture firm would be, relative to the standard exchange? I haven't read up much, but I believe some of the key differences relate to market size.

-10d

 

[HaroldCrump]

I didn't see these before because they were on the TSX Venture Exchange. Any comments on how good or bad a Venture firm would be, relative to the standard exchange?

There are some very good REITs that trade on the TSX-V.
Some eventually move on the the primary TSX.

An example is Pure Industrial - AAR.UN
They traded in the TSXV for many years and graduated to the TSX earlier this year.

BTB is another (still listed on TSXV).

IMHO, these days with almost all REITs at their 52 week highs (and some at all time highs), you might still be able to find value in the smaller cap REITs, many of which trade on the TSXV.

But you have to be careful, of course - with value comes risk.

There have been several bad REITs that have flushed through the TSXV.
An example is Scott's (now, KEY).

 

[avrex]

There are two new REITs that are/have being added to the TSX:
- Agellan Commercial REIT (ACR.UN-T)
- American Hotel Income Properties REIT (HOT.UN-T)

I have added them to the list of REITs that I track.

List of Canadian REITs​

 

[none]

I'm still a little confused about where to place my REIT in my potato.

I was hoping to put it in my non-reg account because my TFSA & RRSP are filled with my bonds, Int & US funds.

I'm having hard time finding a clear pointer on where to place a tsx (all canadian0 reit.
thanks!

 

[avrex]

I'm still a little confused about where to place my REIT in my potato.
I was hoping to put it in my non-reg account

You can place a REIT in your non-registered investing account, but please note that REIT distributions don't qualify for the dividend tax credit.
Here is an example of the Cominar REIT distribution.
Any dividend is considered 'Other Income'.
They also pay a portion of their distribution as ROC (Return of Capital).
This ROC can benefit investors who hold a REIT in a non-registered account.

However my preference is to place the REIT inside my registered accounts (RRSP/TFSA) to avoid the ROC calculation.

 

[HaroldCrump]

A couple more recent additions not on your list:
- True North Commercial (TNT.UN)
- Summit Industrial (SMU.UN)
- Milestone Apartments (MST.UN)

 

[My Own Advisor]

I'm with avrex.

I only keep REITs in my RRSP or TFSA. That way, no ROC calculation mess to deal with.

 

[andrewf]

It may be worthwhile if you are short on contribution room. Tracking ROC is not too bad so long as you seldom buy or sell and are not doing any DRIPing nonsense.

 

[none]

Thanks for the replies. How about this: out of us, international, bonds, or REIT (can) which is most tax efficient to hold in a non reg account. It's REIT correct ? Taxed as Canadian gain?

 

[fatcat]

It may be worthwhile if you are short on contribution room. Tracking ROC is not too bad so long as you seldom buy or sell and are not doing any DRIPing nonsense.

+1 from me

 

[andrewf]

It depends on what the yield is on the foreign equities. If it's 2% it may be a wash. Many REITs will distribution 5%, of which 2% is 'other income'.

You can look at REITs and see what their tax history has been to get a sense.

 

[Eclectic12]

You can place a REIT in your non-registered investing account, but please note that REIT distributions don't qualify for the dividend tax credit ...
Any dividend is considered 'Other Income'...

Likely true ... though I'd check to make sure the investment is a REIT and check the REIT's website for the tax breakdown.

A co-worker was sure he'd bought a REIT with part of the cash distributions as eligible dividends when he bought the Boston Pizza Income Fund. At least he had the eligible dividends part right. :chuncky:

http://www.bpincomefund.com/en/faq.aspx

...They also pay a portion of their distribution as ROC (Return of Capital).
This ROC can benefit investors who hold a REIT in a non-registered account.
However my preference is to place the REIT inside my registered accounts (RRSP/TFSA) to avoid the ROC calculation.

The benefit is that the RoC does not increase one's income, in addition to be taxed favourably.

I used to think the same, until I added the calculations to my monthly statement reconciliation process. Now that the spreadsheet handles it, it's not really that much more work than I was already doing.

To each, their own ...


Cheers

 

[Eclectic12]

... How about this: out of us, international, bonds, or REIT (can) which is most tax efficient to hold in a non reg account. It's REIT correct ? Taxed as Canadian gain?

Most REITs (and trusts) have a mix of income types with different tax implications. So it's hard to compare without knowing the REIT breakdown.

Comparing a few REITs for 2011:

Chartwell Seniors Housing was 95.7% RoC and some Foreign Non Business Income.
http://www.snl.com/IRWebLinkX/GenPage.aspx?IID=4100072&GKP=201825

RioCan was 62% RoC, 31% other income, 4.5% Foreign Non Business income and 1.7% capital gains.
http://investor.riocan.com/Investor-Relations/distribution-info/Income-Tax-Information/default.aspx

H&R Reit was 53% RoC, 41% Other taxable income, 3.8% capital gain and 2.2% Foreign Non Business Income.
http://www.hr-reit.com/finance/history.asp


If one bought Boston Pizza Income Fund thinking it was a REIT, it was 1.34% RoC and 98.6% eligible dividends.
http://www.bpincomefund.com/en/faq.aspx


The RoC will be tax deferred until the adjusted cost base (ACB) is negative ( at which point the RoC is declared each tax year as a capital gain until the ACB becomes positive), income is taxed as income and capital gains as a cg. (I'm ignoring Boston Pizza's eligible dividends as it would appear few REITs, if any pay eligible dividends).


So where RoC and capital gains make up most of the cash distributions - likely the REIT is a better bet to be tax efficient.


Make sure to check the tax tables at TaxTips.ca for your province.
http://www.taxtips.ca/marginaltaxrates.htm

Someone in Nova Scotia making $88K pays:
39.4% on income, 19.2% on capital gains, 15.7% on eligible dividends and 24.7% on non-eligible dividends.

In Ontario the same income pays:
43.3% on income, 21.5% on capital gains, 25.4% on eligible dividends and 28.8% on non-eligible dividends.



Cheers

 

[none]

OK, so tax sheltered it is. Thank you. I found this on the CCP

http://canadiancouchpotato.com/2010/03/05/put-your-assets-in-their-place/

REITs pay generous distributions, but these are not considered dividends. The bulk of the payouts are classified as income and taxed at your full marginal rate. (The rest is usually return of capital.) REITs are therefore best held in a tax-sheltered account.

Sorry I must have mis-googled before and couldn't find it.

 

[andrewf]

I don't think that's quite correct. The majority of REIT distributions are either realized capital gains (taxed at half the marginal rate in the current year) and deferred capital gains aka Return of Capital, and taxed at half your marginal rate at some point in the future.

If you're choosing between foreign equity and REITs to hold in a taxable account, I'd say it depends on the yield of the foreign equity. ~2% and lower, I'd hold the foreign equity in a taxable account, ~3%+ and I'd hold it in an RRSP.

 

[none]

I think what I'm going to do is bump up my RRSP some to hold the REIT - that seems to be the easiest. I'll just hold off the tax-load from the government until I start making some decent cash.

CRA has really been annoying me lately and I will go out of my way to try to avoid as much tax as possible.