Inside the Room at CAIC 2026 with Christian Oliver

Each September, the Canadian Apartment Investment Conference brings more than 500 senior executives from across Canada’s multifamily sector to the Metro Toronto Convention Centre. REITs, institutional investors, developers, property managers and lenders spend the day working through the same set of questions: where capital is moving, what construction costs are doing, and how to position for the year ahead. This year’s program ran on September 9th.

Christian Oliver, Senior Director, Mortgage Origination, at Canada ICI, joined the Roundtable on Land, Construction & Debt Financing. The session brought lenders together to compare activity levels across Canada’s primary markets, with a focus on multifamily and development projects. Much of the discussion turned on underwriting criteria, emerging valuation trends, and what it currently takes to get construction financing approved.

Christian Oliver, Senior Director, Mortgage Origination, at Canada ICI, joined the Roundtable on Land, Construction & Debt Financing. The session brought lenders together to compare activity levels across Canada’s primary markets, with a focus on multifamily and development projects. Much of the discussion turned on underwriting criteria, emerging valuation trends, and what it currently takes to get construction financing approved.

Against a backdrop where much of the day’s conversation centered on volatility, the message Christian wanted the room to take away was a steadying one. Demand for CMHC financing remains very high, and multifamily continues to be a strong place to deploy capital. Relative to other asset classes, including industrial, the sector has been far less exposed to the geopolitical uncertainty weighing on broader investment decisions.

That confidence in the sector came with a clear-eyed view of the pressures building underneath it. The theme that surfaced repeatedly throughout the session was the combination of rising bond yields and softening rents.

“Pressures on bond yields impacting ceiling rates, coupled with pressures on rents, is putting stress on liquidity for the sponsorship group.”

It is a dynamic that touches nearly every part of a deal at once, and it was the thread Christian found most interesting across the panel. It is also the change he points to when asked how the multifamily lending landscape has shifted over the past year. Pressure on rental rates is working its way into proformas and lease-up assumptions, and projects underwritten on more optimistic numbers are now being tested against a different reality.

The panel spent time exploring construction financing and alternative funding sources, and whether developers are overlooking options available to them. Christian’s view was direct.

“The market is well served between CMHC financing being the majority of the financing requests and standard conventional options being the rest.”

Looking into 2027, his attention stays on the same metrics that dominated the discussion in Toronto.

“Bond yields and inflationary pressures have a direct impact on cap rates, ceiling rates and other metrics. We are seeing mounting inflationary pressure, and this is flowing through to yields. This will be a big focus of 2027.”

For developers navigating that environment, his advice starts with the proforma. Realistic projections on expenses, rents and ceiling rates matter more than ever, and they should be paired with scenario analysis that tests where bond yields and ceiling rates could land. Understanding the range of outcomes, including buy-down scenarios, is what allows sponsors to manage liquidity before it becomes a problem rather than after.

Beyond the session itself, what Christian valued most about the day was the range of people in the room. Lenders, developers, investment sales professionals and leasing brokers each brought a different read on the market, and hearing those perspectives in real time is something no report can replicate. That exchange is what continues to make events like CAIC worthwhile.