Mortgage Fund in Canada Halts Payouts Amid Liquidity Crunch (1)

Canadian real estate lender Romspen Investment Corp. has halted redemptions on its largest fund after a number of borrowers stopped making payments.

The Toronto-based firm will “temporarily defer payment” of redemptions until it has more clarity on when borrowers will repay loans and the fund can get cash from asset sales, according to a letter to investors dated Nov. 8. “Loan payoff activity remains suppressed.”

The move underscores the growing stress in the nation’s real estate market as a sharp rise in interest rates changes the economics of commercial projects and disrupts the housing market.

The firm, which is backed ...