Commercial Real Estate Woes in Canada Are Worsened by Tax Gap

Commercial real estate owners, battered by higher interest rates, are grappling with another big challenge in Canada: a property tax system that’s increasingly tilted against them, according to a report by Altus Group Ltd.

In several of the country’s largest biggest cities — including Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver — commercial properties are taxed at more than three times the rate of residential ones. The average gap across 11 major cities has widened in the past year, the Canadian real estate data firm said in the study.

In Ontario, the most populous province, the situation is exacerbated by a tax transparency ...