As real estate bleeds cash, one fund is 'coming in clean'

“Pension funds are effectively maxed out on Canadian real estate,” said Trevor Blakely of Forgestone Capital. Photo by STEFANI REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images/Postmedia files

Canada’s real estate market is deep in a reset. Prices have fallen 17 per cent from their peak, and development pipelines in Toronto and Vancouver have thinned to levels last seen in the mid-2000s.

To Trevor Blakely at Forgestone Capital , that’s a clear signal to jump in.

The firm is launching a real estate fund to fill what Blakely calls a “huge chasm” in Canada’s property-finance market . As major lenders and institutional investors cut their exposure to the sector , Forgestone is going on the attack.

“Existing funds have to pay down debt or sell assets at the wrong time,” Blakely said in an interview.