Morguard's purchase of a stake in TD Asset Management's apartment portfolio went firm on November 2, eight months after it was first announced.[1] The headline is about $1.1 billion. The more useful part of the update is the table underneath it, which shows exactly which buildings each Morguard entity is taking and at what share. For investors who reach rental housing through listed or pooled vehicles rather than owning buildings outright, the deal is a good case study in how one portfolio can be cut into very different exposures.

The deal sheet

  • Seller: TD Asset Management (TDAM), which describes multi-unit residential as a strategic allocation inside its open-ended real estate fund.[2]
  • What is being sold: an undivided interest of about 26% in 91 properties with 12,302 suites, for a gross price of about $1.1 billion before closing costs.[1]
  • Buyers: Morguard Corporation (interests in 31 properties, 4,728 suites, $621 million) and Morguard North American Residential REIT (60 properties, 7,574 suites, about $478.1 million).[1][3]
  • Ownership shares: 20% in most markets, 26% in Toronto, 50% in Oakville and Halifax.[1]
  • Financing: cash, assumed CMHC-insured mortgages at about 46% loan-to-value, about $225 million of vendor financing and short-term borrowings. A $20 million non-refundable deposit was paid by September 30.[1]
  • Still to come: closing in a single tranche, subject to CMHC and lender approval.[1]
  • Management: Morguard already took over property management of TDAM's wider residential portfolio (about 109 properties, roughly 15,800 suites, valued near $5.4 billion) during the second and third quarters.[1]

Five things in the fine print

1. The portfolio got smaller before it got firm. In February the plan was about 20% of a $5.0 billion portfolio of 106 properties and more than 15,500 suites, closing in the third quarter.[2] The firm version covers 91 properties and 12,302 suites at a higher ownership share, with closing still pending. The release doesn't explain the change, but the regional mix gives a clue. Ottawa was 13% of the original portfolio. In the final selection it is two properties and 229 suites, under 2% of the total.[1][2] Diligence on a portfolio deal is partly a sorting exercise, and the sorting is visible here.

2. Two buyers, two very different price points. Divide each entity's price by its ownership suites (suites multiplied by the ownership share) and the gap is wide. The REIT's slice works out to roughly $292,000 per ownership suite ($478.1 million over 1,635). Morguard Corporation's works out to roughly $450,000 ($621 million over the remaining 1,381).[1][3] That is mostly geography. Morguard Corporation is taking 11 of the 18 Toronto buildings, both Oakville properties, the Brampton and Burlington assets and most of the Halifax suites. The REIT is taking every property in Alberta, Windsor, London, Kitchener, Waterloo, Hamilton and Ottawa. The figures are gross, blended across building ages and include some newly delivered developments, so they aren't appraisals of any single market. For reference, Lee & Associates puts Toronto's Q3 average multifamily sale price at about $392,500 per unit.[5]

3. Vendor financing does real work. About $225 million of the price, roughly 20%, is being financed by the seller.[1] The REIT's share is about $111 million, close to a quarter of its cost.[3] When a seller lends back part of the price, the buyer needs less outside capital, and the seller stays exposed to the assets until the note is repaid. In this market, sellers are part of the capital stack.

4. Assumed CMHC debt is part of the asset. The REIT says its assumed CMHC-insured mortgages carry a loan-to-value of about 40%, against about 46% for the deal as a whole.[1][3] That implies more leverage on the Morguard Corporation side. Neither release gives the interest rates on the assumed loans. The REIT's own quarter shows why those rates matter. It refinanced two Florida properties at 6.33% for ten years, replacing a 3.53% mortgage.[3] Inherited debt priced below today's market adds value. Debt that matures soon adds refinancing risk.

5. The leverage shows up at the parent. When the deal was announced in February, Morningstar DBRS said Morguard Corporation would fund it mainly with debt. DBRS expected debt-to-EBITDA to rise from 9.3 times to the mid-to-high 10s by the end of 2026 and then fall as the acquired income comes in. It also expected residential to grow to about 48% of Morguard's NOI, from 37%.[4] DBRS called the deal modestly credit-negative in the near term on leverage, with better asset quality as the offset.

The southwestern Ontario slice

Every London and Windsor building in the deal sits in the REIT's allocation. That is 9 properties and 792 suites in London and 9 properties and 478 suites in Windsor, each at a 20% interest, or 158 and 96 ownership suites.[3] Add Kitchener (5 properties, 764 suites) and Waterloo (4 properties, 781 suites), also at 20%, and these four cities account for about 37% of the suites in the REIT's share of the deal and about 34% of its ownership suites.[3]

The buildings are small. Windsor's average about 53 suites per property and London's about 88, compared with about 151 for the Toronto properties in the overall deal.[1] Smaller buildings often mean higher operating costs per suite and lumpier vacancy, which is part of why they trade at a lower price per suite.

The local rent backdrop is soft. In September, Rentals.ca and Urbanation had London one-bedroom asking rents at $1,628, down 4.7% from a year earlier, and Windsor's at $1,467, down 12.6%.[6] The REIT's existing Canadian portfolio was 93.8% occupied at September 30, compared with 94.3% a year earlier. Average monthly rent was up 2.2%, but basic FFO per unit fell to $0.38 from $0.43 in the quarter.[3] In the same release, the REIT raised its distribution by 2.53%, to $0.81 a unit annualized.[3]

What the deal doesn't tell you

The releases don't give cap rates, in-place rents, building ages or loan maturities by property, so any per-suite comparison is an indication, not a valuation. They also don't say why TDAM is selling. TDAM's stated aim in February was to redeploy capital into value-add and development projects, which is a reason to trim, not evidence of distress.[2]

The structural point is easier to make. A single seller split one portfolio by geography and ownership share. The REIT took the smaller-market buildings, and Morguard Corporation took most of the higher-priced Greater Toronto ones. For an investor in a listed REIT or a pooled fund, the exposure you hold depends on that allocation, and on what you pay for it, more than on the headline size of the deal.

This article is for information only and is not investment, tax or legal advice. The transaction has not closed and remains subject to CMHC and lender approval.

Sources

[1] "Morguard Provides Transaction Update: Agreement to Acquire $1.1 Billion Interest in TD Asset Management Multi-Suite Residential Portfolio Now Firm," Morguard Corporation (Nov. 2, 2026): https://morguard.mediaroom.com/2026-11-02-Morguard-Provides-Transaction-Update-Agreement-to-Acquire-1-1-Billion-Interest-in-TD-Asset-Management-Multi-Suite-Residential-Portfolio-Now-Firm

[2] "Morguard Announces Strategic Relationship with TD Asset Management on Multi-Suite Residential Real Estate Portfolio," Morguard Corporation (Feb. 25, 2026): https://morguard.mediaroom.com/2026-02-25-Morguard-Announces-Strategic-Relationship-with-TD-Asset-Management-on-Multi-Suite-Residential-Real-Estate-Portfolio

[3] "Morguard North American Residential REIT Announces 2026 Third Quarter Results and an Increase to Monthly Cash Distribution" (Oct. 27, 2026): https://morguard.mediaroom.com/2026-10-27-Morguard-North-American-Residential-REIT-Announces-2026-Third-Quarter-Results-and-an-Increase-to-Monthly-Cash-Distribution

[4] "Morningstar DBRS Comments on Morguard Corporation's Strategic Multisuite Residential Acquisition and Management Mandate," Morningstar DBRS (Feb. 26, 2026): https://dbrs.morningstar.com/research/475250/morningstar-dbrs-comments-on-morguard-corporations-strategic-multisuite-residential-acquisition-and-management-mandate

[5] Q3 2026 Toronto Multifamily Market Overview, Lee & Associates (Oct. 2026): https://www.lee-associates.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/2026-Q3-Toronto-ON-Multifamily.pdf

[6] National Rent Report, October 2026 (September data), Rentals.ca and Urbanation: https://rentals.ca/national-rent-report