The HMM Index · Real estate · Instance 01 · Instagram
The Real Estate Index, Instagram
Living competitive intelligence for Canadian private real estate investment. Five of eight firms, because three have no account. 59 posts analysed across the last 30 days, scraped live on 5 August 2026.
Starlight, Centurion and Hazelview have no Instagram account. Not dormant, none exists. Their websites link LinkedIn and nothing else, and the handles that surface in search belong to other companies.
That is itself the first finding of this index. The three largest institutional firms in Canadian private real estate have collectively decided Instagram is not their channel. Read every number below against that.
Category pulse
The scoreboard
Five accounts ranked by Instagram Index Score. A different instrument from the LinkedIn index: Resonance uses engagement rate, Intent uses comment to like, and Distribution honesty uses peak plays divided by followers where lower is better, because unbought reach is the honest signal.
| Account | Score | Followers | Posts | Mix | Median likes | Med comm | Like/play | Peak | Flag | Top post |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Skyline
@skylinegroupofcompanies
MID |
75 #1, debut |
2,209 | 12 | 5R·1C·6S | 22 0.9959% ER |
0 | 3.26% | 0.5x | ORGANIC | 80 |
| Equiton
@equitoninc
MID |
63 #2, debut |
17,855 | 22 | 5R·16C·1S | 11 0.0616% ER |
0 | 1.52% | 0.0x | ORGANIC | 23 |
| Pier 4
@pier4ltd
BOUTIQUE |
57 #3, debut |
626 | 13 | 3R·8C·2S | 4 0.6390% ER |
0 | 0.29% | 6.0x | BOOST 185x | 11 |
| Marlin Spring
@marlinspringdevelopments
BOUTIQUE |
30 #4, debut |
14,932 | 2 | 0R·1C·1S | 11 0.0737% ER |
0 | 0.00% | 0.0x | LOW CADENCE | 18 |
| Lankin
@lankin_investments
MID |
21 #5, debut |
3,681 | 10 | 1R·1C·8S | 1 0.0272% ER |
0 | 1.03% | 0.1x | ORGANIC | 27 |
Skyline gets 0.996 percent engagement on 2,209 followers. Equiton gets 0.062 percent on 17,855. Sixteen times the resonance on one eighth of the audience.
Lankin is starker still: 3,681 followers and a median of 1 like. Four of their ten posts in the window scored zero.
What the top of the board is actually doing
Read from all 59 captions and the creative itself. Language and artifacts, not just counting.
Skyline, number one
The native channel
The only firm treating Instagram as its own channel rather than a mirror: construction reels, event title cards, a consistent visual system. 22 median likes on 2,209 followers, and the highest like per play in the index at 3.3 percent. The audience is small and entirely real.
Equiton, number two
Cadence without conversion
The heaviest publisher: 22 posts, mostly explainer carousels closed with a question CTA. Median comments: zero. The questions are being asked into a room where nobody answers, and reels reach a fraction of the 17,855 people who already followed.
Pier 4
The boost experiment
One scenario reel bought its way to 115,860 plays, 185 times the follower base. The account's median is still 4 likes. Reach was rented for a day and none of it stayed. The franchise is worth keeping, the media plan behind it is the question.
The void cohort
Lankin and Marlin Spring
Lankin: ten cross-posts, median 1 like. Marlin Spring: 14,932 followers, the second largest audience on the page, and two posts in thirty days. Between presence without content and content without a channel, roughly 18,600 followers are being left idle.
Captions and creative are strategy documents your competitors publish for free. Thirty days of them tells you who is native, who is mirroring, and who has stopped thinking about the channel entirely.
The vision pass
Everything above came from text and metrics. Nothing above involved looking at a single frame. Eight frames, one per firm, downloaded and read pixel level.
WINS
Skylinetop IG postIn frame: Branded title card over a brewery patio crowd, thirty people under string lights.
Logo-first, and it wins anyway: the photo underneath is a room full of ordinary people. Highest engagement in the Instagram index.
WINS
Centuriontop LinkedIn postIn frame: Office World Cup watch party: two big screens, flag bunting, colleagues below.
Zero production, pure moment. Their best post of the cycle at 2x their own median. People they know, mid-cheer.
WINS
StarlightDonvale topping-off videoIn frame: Opens on a near-black construction frame, a crane silhouetted over the tower.
The frame breaks every rule, under-exposed and slow, and still pulled 92 likes. A building topping off is a story no studio shot can fake.
AVERAGE
Pier 4the scenario franchiseIn frame: Split screen, same actor twice: high net worth without structure against LP exposure.
This exact format produced their 115,860 play boost reel. On LinkedIn it lands below median. Same creative, two markets, opposite result.
UNDERPERFORMS
Equitontop reelIn frame: One professional mid-sentence in a bright boardroom, branded pen staged in front.
Higher production value than anything that beat it, a fraction of the return. 592 plays on 17,855 followers.
AVERAGE
Hazelviewwork anniversary videoIn frame: Polished executive portrait, teal graded, blurred glass corridor behind.
Technically flawless, emotionally inert: exactly their median. Their fund close post on the same page pulled 222.
UNDERPERFORMS
Lankinwebinar countdownIn frame: Navy title card: ONE DAY TO GO, live badge, episode number. No human anywhere.
A countdown about their own webinar. Brand-first framing from the index's heaviest advertiser, and the audience scrolled past.
UNREVIEWED
Marlin Springframe pending reviewIn frame: Harvested but not yet human-reviewed, and the post sits outside the 30 day window.
Marlin Spring published four posts in-window, none with a harvestable frame. This index does not describe creative it has not seen. A reviewed frame follows in cycle 002.
These eight frames are served from Apify storage, which is a temporary location. Download them and re-upload to the WordPress media library, then swap the image sources, so the page does not depend on a third party host.
Eight frames, one pattern, and it inverts the consumer rule. In jewellery the winning frames open on craft or a single human mid moment, and title cards signal bought reach. Here the frame that wins opens on a title card over a crowd, and the two that underperform open on one polished professional in a corporate room. B2B real estate audiences are largely employees, peers and advisors. They respond to rooms full of people they might know, not to production value.
The creative positioning map
Every axis is a measured number. X, paid push: peak plays divided by followers, log scale, how hard the reach was pushed. Y, resonance: median like per play, whether people who saw it responded. Instagram's view counts are unreliable, so plays are the denominator throughout. Hover any circle.
Top right is empty here too: nobody in Canadian private real estate pushes big and lands. Pier 4 pushed 185x and resonance collapsed to 0.02 percent. Skyline lands at 3.3 percent and pushes nothing. The first firm to put media money behind Skyline-grade native creative takes a lane with no competition in it.
Plot your market on these two axes and the strategy writes itself: never out-spend the bought and bouncing corner. Out-resonate it.
The boost ledger
Ratios that resist buying, read together. Directional flags from public data, never spend receipts.
| Account | Peak plays / foll | Comment:like | The read | Flag |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pier 4 | 185x 90 day |
6.45% | A June reel pulled 115,860 plays on a 626 follower account. A second hit 15,163, or 24 times base. Two posts, same signature. The in window peak is 6.0x, so this sits outside the current cycle but is too large to omit. | BOOST 185x |
| Skyline | 0.5x | 3.61% | Reach proportionate to audience throughout, with the highest engagement rate in the index. Nothing here suggests paid distribution. | ORGANIC |
| Equiton | 0.04x | 2.63% | Peak 0.04x, meaning reels reach a fraction of the follower base. If anything this is under distributed: the audience exists and is not being reached. | ORGANIC |
| Lankin | 0.08x | 0.00% | Peak 0.08x and a median of 1 like on 3,681 followers. No amplification, and almost no organic reach either. | ORGANIC |
Play counts include replays and autoplays. A 185 times ratio is strong evidence of a paid push, not proof, because budget, objective and targeting are invisible from outside. The right output is a question for that firm's marketing lead, not a verdict.
What good looks like
Provisional bands derived from cycle 001 of this category, not imported from consumer Instagram. Treat as provisional until cycle 004.
Instagram engagement rate
Read: Skyline and Pier 4 clear the strong band. Equiton and Lankin sit in trouble, both with audiences far larger than the leaders.
Comment to like ratio
Read: median comments are zero on four of five accounts. This category has an audience that watches and does not speak, which makes likes and shares the working signals.
Peak plays divided by followers
Read: one account sits in media buy territory this cycle, and it is the smallest one. Everyone else is under 1x, meaning reels reach a fraction of the people who already opted in.
Benchmarks are category and size specific, but these three bands work everywhere. Compute them for your market once and every competitor number you see afterwards has context.
Which content themes actually work
Median likes by caption-read theme across all 59 in-window posts. Themes with a single post are folded into the read.
| Theme | Posts | Median likes | Relative pull | The read |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| CSR / community | 2 | 69 | Two posts, both Skyline, both near the top of the index | |
| Culture / people | 14 | 16 | The reliable lane: events, interns, resident managers | |
| Development / asset | 13 | 12 | Construction and leasing milestones, Skyline's engine | |
| Investor education | 7 | 9 | Explainer carousels, mostly Equiton, mostly quiet | |
| Market / macro | 19 | 7 | The most published theme and the weakest, exactly as on LinkedIn | |
| Brand / other | 3 | 7 | Aphorisms and brand statements, posting into silence |
People and community carry the page. Market commentary is the most published theme and the weakest. Nineteen of 59 posts are macro takes pulling a median of 7 likes, while the two community posts pull 69. The calendar is inverted against its own evidence, on both platforms.
Count your own last 30 posts by theme, then look at where engagement actually came from. Most brands discover most of their calendar is filled with their weakest theme.
Format
The rule that does not transfer from consumer categories.
In consumer categories reels out earn static roughly five to one, and format alone predicts much of the scoreboard. Here the gap between best and worst format is 11 against 9 median likes. Format is not the lever in this category. Theme is. Any agency selling a reels-first strategy for private real estate is selling a consumer playbook.
Campaign watch
What is running right now, read from recurring language and formats across 59 captions. Each row links to a live example where one exists.
| Account | Signal | What it is | Density | Status |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Pier 4 | The Cameron scenario franchise | Split screen tax and buying scenarios with a named character. Produced the 115,860 play boost reel, the biggest reach event in the index. post | recurring | AMPLIFIED |
| Pier 4 | Market Spotlight series | Named city carousels: Riverview NB, London ON. Secondary market thesis published as a series. post | series | POSITIONING |
| Skyline | Construction update engine | SkyDev and REIT progress reels ending in "follow us for more updates". The index's most consistent native series. post | recurring | ORGANIC ENGINE |
| Equiton | Question CTA close | "Let us know in the comments", "what is really stopping you". An engagement play running across the calendar while median comments sit at zero. It is not working. post | high density | NOT LANDING |
| Lankin | The cross-post stack | LinkedIn copy pasted whole, hashtags included, on every post. The same copy earns 67 to 103 likes on LinkedIn and a median of 1 here. | every post | CROSS-POST |
| Marlin Spring | Move-in ready and HST rebate push | Buyer-facing offer language on a 14,932 follower account that posted twice in thirty days. | 2 posts | LOW CADENCE |
A competitor's campaign calendar is reconstructable from public posts: name, message, duration, intensity. Planning next quarter without this table for your market is planning blind.
The cohort read
Pooled median engagement rate per cohort, low cadence accounts excluded before pooling.
Large, private REIT and institutional
0 of 3 firms on the platform
Starlight, Centurion, Hazelview
The entire institutional cohort has opted out of Instagram. Whatever this category's Instagram audience is worth, the largest firms have decided it is worth nothing. That is either discipline or a blind spot, and cycle over cycle data will say which.
Mid market fund
pooled median engagement rate
Equiton, Skyline, Lankin
The widest spread on the page lives inside one cohort: Skyline at 0.996, Equiton at 0.062, Lankin at 0.027. Same cohort, same platform, a 36x gap decided entirely by whether the content is native.
Emerging and boutique
pooled median, one account excluded
Pier 4, Marlin Spring
Pier 4 runs the boldest creative on the page and the only paid push. Marlin Spring holds the second largest audience and posted twice. Excluded from the pooled median and score capped.
Never pool one median across a whole category. A number that mixes a 17,855 follower account with a 626 follower boutique describes nobody.
The category story
Native or nothing.
The narrative finding of cycle 001
Canadian private real estate Instagram is a category where the institutions are absent, the mirrors are dying and the natives are winning. Three of eight firms never showed up. Lankin mirrors LinkedIn word for word and earns a median of one like. Skyline, the only firm producing for the platform, out-resonates an audience eight times its size by sixteen to one.
The one attempt to buy the gap closed, Pier 4's 185x reel, rented a day of reach and left the account's median exactly where it was. On this platform, in this category, distribution cannot be bought and cannot be mirrored. It has to be made.
One brand changing message is noise. A whole cohort absent, a mirror failing and a native winning in the same window is the market telling you what the channel requires. Watch the pattern, not the post.
The cautionary tale
Posting into the void.
Lankin Investments, 3,681 followers, median 1 like
Ten posts inside the window. Four scored zero likes and zero comments. The account is not dormant. It publishes on schedule, and the copy is identical to the LinkedIn posts that pull 67 and 103 likes on the same firm's other channel.
This is not a content quality problem. It is a cross posting problem: LinkedIn native long form copy pasted into a visual feed, where it dies. The same firm proves the copy works elsewhere.
If the median response to your last ten posts is statistically zero, pausing the channel is not a risk. It is a diagnosis.
The full post log
All 59 in-window posts, every metric, every link. Pick an account to filter. Hooks are the caption's first line, verbatim.
| Account | Date | Format | Hook, first line | Likes | Comments | Plays | Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Equiton | 2026-07-09 | Reel | "When the real estate market is booming, almost everyone can look like a great investor." | 11 | 0 | 728 | post |
| Equiton | 2026-07-10 | Reel | "Most long-term goals aren't achieved through a single decision." | 6 | 0 | 434 | post |
| Equiton | 2026-07-13 | Carousel | "Canada's housing challenge is often discussed in broad terms, but the scale of the issue b" | 14 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-14 | Carousel | "One of the most common misconceptions about real estate investing is that you need to purc" | 12 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-15 | Carousel | ""Later" can be one of the easiest decisions to make." | 11 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-16 | Carousel | "Credibility is earned, not claimed." | 11 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-17 | Carousel | "The most meaningful operational improvements are often found in the details." | 9 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-17 | Carousel | "If a firm says anything that discourages due diligence, we consider it deserving of a "red" | 9 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-22 | Carousel | "A strong rental market is about more than a single data point." | 7 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-22 | Carousel | "You're busy. So we rounded up last week's biggest market headlines into one quick read, he" | 9 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-23 | Carousel | "At Maison Riverain, community is about more than where you live, it's about feeling connec" | 19 | 2 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-24 | Carousel | "Once a year, our Resident Managers come together for a day dedicated to learning, collabor" | 19 | 1 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-24 | Carousel | "Strong companies are built on more than strategy, they’re built by the people who bring it" | 14 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-24 | Carousel | "Wealth means different things to different people." | 7 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-27 | Static | "Spots are filling up." | 9 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-28 | Carousel | "It's easy to focus on today's headlines." | 13 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-29 | Reel | "The places we visit every day can tell us a lot about investing." | 16 | 0 | 575 | post |
| Equiton | 2026-07-30 | Carousel | "The headlines tell you what happened. We help you understand why it matters." | 7 | 0 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-30 | Carousel | "A Day in the Life | Ivana Cacic, Manager, Investment Finance" | 20 | 2 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-30 | Carousel | "Today, we're celebrating the next generation of talent. 👏" | 23 | 2 | post | |
| Equiton | 2026-07-31 | Reel | "Owning an apartment building isn't the only way to invest in one." | 9 | 0 | 592 | post |
| Equiton | 2026-08-04 | Reel | "Tower 1 at Maison Riverain is now 95% leased and home to a thriving community. It’s easy t" | 11 | 0 | 414 | post |
| Lankin | 2026-07-06 | Static | "What's the one market trend you're watching most closely right now?" | 1 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-10 | Reel | "1 WEEK TO GO until we unpack one of the most overlooked parts of investing: tax structure." | 3 | 0 | 291 | post |
| Lankin | 2026-07-14 | Static | "Do all residential real estate investments respond to the market in the same way?" | 1 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-21 | Static | "Builders are completing projects faster than they are launching new ones, according to Fin" | 1 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-22 | Static | "Are today's housing challenges primarily a demand issue, or are structural supply constrai" | 1 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-23 | Static | "We're pleased to introduce Andrew Agatep, Vice President, Finance at Lankin Investments." | 11 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-28 | Static | "Nearly half of Canadians are sitting on investable cash they never put to work." | 0 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-29 | Carousel | "What could a more connected regulatory framework mean for Canada's capital markets?" | 3 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-07-30 | Static | "Behind every high-performing team is a strong sense of connection." | 27 | 0 | post | |
| Lankin | 2026-08-04 | Static | "The Bank of Canada has published its 2027 schedule for policy interest rate announcements" | 0 | 0 | post | |
| Marlin Spring | 2026-07-22 | Carousel | "Finding a neighbourhood you love is great. Finding a home that’s ready when you are? Even" | 18 | 0 | post | |
| Marlin Spring | 2026-07-28 | Static | "What makes a neighbourhood thrive? It’s more than just beautiful homes, it’s the perfect b" | 4 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-06 | Reel | "June was a special month. At this year’s summer gathering, we celebrated the team behind e" | 8 | 2 | 489 | post |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-08 | Reel | "With a $300,000 income, Cameron has two options. Pay taxes the way most high earners do. O" | 1 | 2 | 2774 | post |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-10 | Carousel | "Q2 brought new faces and a few good games. But more than that, it was a reminder that trus" | 7 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-13 | Reel | "Follow along as we transition through a day in the life of two of our Finance interns, Jen" | 11 | 0 | 3754 | post |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-16 | Carousel | "Most investors hold less real estate than the research recommends." | 3 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-17 | Static | "A special welcome to Sarah Paskal, Vice President, Sales, who join us as we continue to bu" | 9 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-20 | Carousel | "Excellence in practice." | 6 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-23 | Carousel | "Toronto's affordability crisis is creating real movement. Over 77,000 residents relocated" | 4 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-24 | Carousel | "As a financial advisor, your clients are counting on you. The right recommendation starts" | 2 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-29 | Carousel | "Net Asset Value (NAV) is the fundamental price of a fund per unit, determined by the total" | 3 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-07-31 | Static | "Happy Civic Holiday from all of us at Pier 4! Wishing you an enjoyable long weekend and we" | 1 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-08-04 | Carousel | "Pier 4 has completed the successful disposition of 3 apartments. Monarq Apartments and Elm" | 5 | 0 | post | |
| Pier 4 | 2026-08-05 | Carousel | "Canada’s affordability crisis continues to drive residents toward more affordable secondar" | 2 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-07 | Reel | "In today’s market, it’s easy to get caught up in headlines and short-term noise." | 25 | 0 | 540 | post |
| Skyline | 2026-07-10 | Reel | "Yesterday, Skyliners came together for our annual Heart & Stroke Walk in support of the He" | 62 | 1 | 1198 | post |
| Skyline | 2026-07-14 | Reel | "SkyDev Construction Update: Construction continues to progress at Baycrest Apartments in O" | 18 | 0 | 557 | post |
| Skyline | 2026-07-17 | Static | "Construction at 1641 Topsail Road, Paradise, NL continues to make strong progress thanks t" | 18 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-21 | Carousel | "Last week’s Summer Appreciation Staff Event brought everyone together for a Mediterranean-" | 80 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-22 | Static | "We’re pleased to share that Skyline Industrial REIT has fully leased its zero-carbon indus" | 23 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-23 | Static | "River’s Edge Apartments, one of Skyline Apartment REIT’s properties in Chatham, ON, is now" | 12 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-24 | Reel | "SkyDev Construction Update - Construction continues to advance at Sky Towers in Barrie." | 16 | 0 | 787 | post |
| Skyline | 2026-07-27 | Static | "Earlier this month, Skyline was proud to sponsor and attend the @johntavaresfdn's Brighter" | 76 | 3 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-07-30 | Reel | "We’re pleased to share a construction progress update on Skyline Apartment REIT’s Vale Apa" | 21 | 11 | 645 | post |
| Skyline | 2026-07-31 | Static | "Yesterday, we celebrated a major milestone at our Sky Towers development in Barrie, ON, wi" | 53 | 0 | post | |
| Skyline | 2026-08-05 | Static | "At Skyline, we invest in initiatives that strengthen our portfolio, support our communitie" | 12 | 0 | post |
Frequently asked
Why only five accounts?
Because only five of the eight firms tracked in the LinkedIn index have an Instagram account. Starlight, Centurion and Hazelview have none, verified against their own websites and by direct search. The index reports what exists rather than padding the table.
How is this scored differently from the LinkedIn index?
Instagram publishes plays, so Resonance can use like per play and Distribution honesty can use peak plays divided by followers, where lower is better. LinkedIn publishes neither, so its index substitutes share to like. They are deliberately different instruments and the scores are not comparable across the two pages.
Why like per play rather than like per view?
Instagram's view counts are inconsistently reported and sometimes lower than like counts, which produces impossible ratios. Plays are reported reliably, so every resonance number on this page uses plays as the denominator and says so.
Is any of the data estimated?
No. Every number comes from public Instagram data at scrape time, and every claim links to its source post.
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