How real estate development works in Atlantic Canada

The short answer

Real estate development means taking land or an existing building through approvals, financing and construction to a finished property that is leased, sold or held. In Atlantic Canada the stages are the same as anywhere: find and tie up the site, confirm what the zoning allows and get the approvals you need, design and cost the project, raise the debt and equity, build, then lease up and either refinance or sell. What differs here is the scale of the market and how much depends on relationships with the municipality, the lenders and the other owners who have done it before.

Commercial Group is a network, not a developer or a consultant. Nothing here replaces a planner, a lawyer or a quantity surveyor.

The stages of a development project

1. Land, or a building to reposition

Development starts with control of a site: a purchase, a conditional agreement, or an option that gives you time to get approvals before you close. Experienced developers rarely buy land outright before they know what they can build on it. In this region the site is as likely to be an older building worth converting or adding to as a bare lot, and many of the best sites change hands privately, between owners who know each other. The off-market guide covers how that works.

What to establish before you commit: the current zoning and what it permits, any heritage or environmental constraints, servicing (water, sewer, power, access), and a rough idea of what the finished project is worth and what it will cost to build.

2. Zoning and approvals

Every municipality has a plan that says what can be built where, and a by-law that sets the rules: use, height, density, setbacks, parking. A project that fits those rules is often called "as-of-right" and needs permits but not a political decision. A project that does not fit needs a rezoning, a development agreement or a variance, which means an application, staff review, usually a public process, and a decision by council or a committee. That path takes longer, is less certain, and is where most of the risk in a project sits.

Start with the municipality's own planning office. Halifax Regional Municipality's planning and development pages take online applications for rezoning, variances, site plan approvals and subdivisions, list the permits a project may need, show the active planning applications, publish the Municipal Design Guidelines (the "Red Book"), and run public engagement through Engage Halifax. The City of St. John's publishes its planning and development applications and permits online, and the City of Charlottetown publishes its Official Plan and building permit process. In New Brunswick, start with the municipality; some areas are served by a regional service commission rather than a municipal planning office. Pages checked on 13 October 2026; the processes change, so read the current version.

Two habits that help: talk to planning staff before you apply, not after, and read the recent decisions on similar projects in the same area. They tell you what the municipality will actually approve.

3. Design and costing

An architect turns the approved envelope into a building, an engineer makes it stand up and connects it to services, and a quantity surveyor or experienced builder tells you what it will cost. Costing early and often matters more than it seems: a project that works on a napkin and fails at a class B estimate has cost you only the design fees, which is the cheapest place to find out.

4. Financing

Development is financed in layers. A land loan or your own equity carries the site through approvals. A construction loan funds the build, advanced in draws as work is certified, and is priced for the risk that the building is not finished. A takeout or term loan replaces it once the building is complete and leased, and for rental housing that is often a CMHC-insured loan. Equity comes from the developer, from partners, or from investors, and the moment it comes from investors the securities rules apply.

The raising capital guide explains the capital stack, what lenders ask for, CMHC's MLI Select program for rental housing of five or more units, and the rules for taking money from investors. The partners guide covers how equity partners are found and how those deals are structured.

5. Construction

The build is where the plan meets the weather, the labour market and the supply chain, and in Atlantic Canada all three can be tight. A fixed-price contract moves risk to the builder at a price; a cost-plus contract keeps the risk with you. Either way, a contingency in the budget and a schedule that assumes something will slip are not pessimism, they are the plan. Lenders will want a monitor or a quantity surveyor to certify each draw.

6. Lease-up, stabilization, and refinance or sale

A finished building is not a finished project. Rental housing has to lease up to stabilized occupancy before a takeout lender will treat it as income property; commercial space may be pre-leased before construction or leased after. Once stabilized, the developer refinances on the income and holds, or sells to an investor who wants a finished, producing asset. Which one is the right end depends on the deal you set out to do.

Who is in the room at each stage

Most of these people are in the room at Commercial Group's evenings. The network invites a limited number of developers, builders, construction managers, lenders, mortgage brokers, architects, engineers, appraisers, property managers, lawyers and accountants, alongside the investors and owners it is primarily built for. See the page for developers.

Halifax development projects: where to see what is proposed

If you want to know what is being built or proposed in Halifax, the municipality's own list of active planning applications is the source, and Engage Halifax carries the public consultations. Commercial Group does not publish a list of projects or of developers; the Urban Development Institute of Nova Scotia is the association that represents the industry, and its events are where the active developers are. More on why there is no list here.

Next step

If you develop, build or finance projects in Atlantic Canada, or you are an investor who wants to meet the people who do, apply to join Commercial Group. There is no fee and applications are reviewed personally within 3 to 5 business days.