Michael Brooks, CEO of REALPAC, participated in a video interview at Nareit’s REITworld: 2018 Annual Conference in San Francisco.
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the listing of the first REIT on the Toronto Stock Exchange. Brooks reflected on the milestone and pointed out that Canadian REITs have had a cumulative average growth rate of more than 10 percent in the last 25 years. During that time there have been “zero crash and burns” he added.
Looking ahead, the challenge is to maintain growth in a rising rate environment, he said.
Brooks also commented on the increasing risk of cyber threats in the real estate industry.
“It’s a new issue item for the Canadian industry… it’s coming up on the c-suite radar—I don’t think we have finished that evolution,” Brooks said.
Meanwhile, Brooks said REALPAC has been actively working to get a better sense of gender equality issues in the Canadian real estate industry.
“We need to be sending those signals that real estate welcomes people from all communities and gender, and you can get to the top if you want to,” he said.