Quote:
Originally Posted by EastVanMark
Calgary’s cycle is down now, but it will bounce back. Maybe real soon given the prices at the pump currently.
Vancouver actually stopped building commercial way before Robertson came around. I think it was during Owen’s time (maybe? Or just after). We’ve been playing “catch up” for a generation now. Now to be fair to infant have gotten better, but they still aren’t healthy. That vacancy rate needs to hover around 10% and we’re nowhere near that. We build to suit current needs so that by the time the project is complete, you’re already in the red zone for vacancy and need to start the process again. Meanwhile landlords exploit this situation and Jack up rates to levels that do not match the area’s economic standing. Tax breaks was the driver that lead Calgary to surpass us for head offices and leave us in the dust. And before people say “but oil” Edmonton is even closer to the oil and home to regulatory bodies, but Calgary surpassed them too. Also, non oil companies located there too instead of us; a much more logical choice geographically in some instances.
|
Let's hope for Calgary's sake it 'bounces back', but right now it isn't. In the past 12 months (to Q4 2021) according to CBRE, Vancouver added 1,515,000 sf of new office space, and absorbed 1,016,000 sf, so the vacancy rate went up slightly to 7.0% (7.2% Downtown). There were 3,703,000 sf of new buildings under construction.
Calgary added 78,000 sf of new office space, and absorbed -2,438,000 sf, so the vacancy rate went up to 30.4% (33.2% Downtown). There were no new buildings under construction.
Calgary's office rents are half those of Vancouver, and yet they're still seeing office space emptying out. Edmonton's occupied space went down too, and their vacancy rate is over 20%. Nothing's being built there either.
You seem to enjoy trash talking Vancouver even while it's currently the best performing office market in Canada. As this is the Civic Election thread, it's relevant to point out that in recent years City Council have approved every office proposal that developers have proposed, almost always unanimously (except for Councillors Hardwick, Kirby-Young and Swanson on small mixed-use projects).