Townhomes in demand among investors as market shifts
Small supply, stable tenancies underpin investor interest
Peter Mitham, May 22, 2026
With observers forecasting a shift in housing demand to units suitable for couples and families as federal immigration caps bite, multi-family investors are showing fresh appetite for townhouse properties in addition to apartment complexes.
One of the latest examples is a collection of 536 units in Edmonton held by Boardwalk REIT that commercial brokerage Avison Young (Canada) Inc. brought to market earlier this month with a bid deadline of May 28.
The portfolio includes three assets in the city’s northwest quadrant, including, Riverview Plaza, a 252-unit apartment complex built in 1969 on 7.2 acres; Parkview Estates, a 104-unit townhome complex built in 1972 on 6.1 acres; and Northridge Estates, a 180-unit apartment complex built in 1978 on 5 acres.
Collectively, the portfolio is 80.6 per cent apartments and 19.4 per cent townhomes, but it’s the townhomes that stand to be the most interesting to buyers.
“We’re finally starting to treat the townhome product as a commodity, so institutions, REITs and the like are looking at townhome product as well, and not just private investors,” said Amit Grover, a principal in Avison Young’s Edmonton office specializing in multi-family properties.
Demand has picked up among both investors, attracted by the lack of common areas to manage, and tenants, who appreciate the greater space they offer both indoors and out.
“It becomes a simpler management endeavour,” Grover said.
In the case of the Boardwalk portfolio, the age of the properties makes them cheaper and more attractive to finance. Built in 1972, the townhouse units rent for less than $1,665 a month, the threshold to qualify for financing through Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp.’s MLI Select program. Designed to support affordability and other social goals, MLI Select financing on existing properties require 85 per cent of units to rent at so-called affordable rates.
Parkview Estates meets that criteria, while newer townhome units rent in the $2,200 a month range.
“We’re very much expecting the successful purchaser of the Boardwalk portfolio to go high-leverage and use MLI Select,” Grover said, noting that interest has come from private investors across Canada, from B.C. to the Atlantic provinces.
“The Edmonton market has softened a touch, but it’s still showing really strong fundamentals because of our rental rates and how low they are,” he added. “Things are stable here.”
With the federal cap on immigration and fewer foreign students, markets across the country are seeing units designed for singles come under pressure while family-sized units experience resilient and even growing demand.
Such units are significantly underbuilt relative to demand, meaning existing units enjoy low vacancies, minimal turnover thanks to a more stable tenant base, and tend to out-perform apartments.
CMHC data indicates that family-sized apartments of three-bedrooms or more account for 9 per cent of all purpose-built apartments, while tenants occupy just 7 per cent of the country’s townhouse units. Row and semi-detached units also account for the smallest proportion of new residential construction in Canada, a situation parallelled in Alberta.
CMHC describes such units as the “missing middle” of the housing market – larger, ground-oriented, three-bedroom homes with a yard and a front door that serve tenants who have moved beyond one-bedroom units, starting a family and hoping to make the leap to home ownership.
“North America’s going towards rentership, so less and less people can afford housing but they still need space,” said Grover. “[A townhouse] is just perfect for families that are priced out of housing but still need space.”
While shifting demand has put downward pressure on rents and prompted some buyers to bid down asking prices, disappointing the expectations of some sellers, Boardwalk isn’t fazed.
Speaking to Western Investor earlier this year, Boardwalk president James Ha said the disconnect is creating a buying opportunity, what he described as “an opportunity for Boardwalk to accretively recycle equity from non-core dispositions into equity in our broader portfolio.”
Boardwalk sold 900 units across eight assets in Alberta and Saskatchewan last year for a grand total of $188.6 million. A sizeable portion were in Edmonton, with the proceeds channeled towards improvements at remaining properties and the acquisition of 835 units across seven assets in Alberta and Saskatchewan worth $302.3 million, including several newly built properties in Calgary.
With files from Howard Chai
www.westerninvestor.com/british-columbia/townhomes-in-demand-among-investors-as-market-shifts-12318349
