[DyAm00394]

Office Vacancy Down In Fredericton and Saint John, But Up In Region Overall

"Though the full impact of Covid-19 on the region’s rental office market has yet to be seen, there are some early indicators that recent downward trends in vacancy are starting to reverse.The survey found that overall, office vacancy rates were up year-over-year in four of the six major cities in Atlantic Canada and warehouse vacancies were up in half of them. Most of the changes have been relatively minor thus far. Movement in average net rental rates for office space was divided, with three of the six office markets seeing a decline and three an increase; average warehouse rents were up almost across the board, and holding steady elsewhere."

Source: https://huddle.today/office-vacancy-...egion-overall/

- Fredericton = 5.55%, (down from 8.04% a year ago).
Class A vacancy rate = 3.80%, (down from 3.92% in 2019).

- Saint John = 16.47%, (down from 18.26% a year ago).
Class A vacancy rate = 15.55%.

Meanwhile, the other major Atlantic Canadian Cities saw an uptick in vacancies.

- Charlottetown = 8.35%,(up from 7.27% the same time last year).
Class A vacancy rate= 7.73%, (up from 6.70% a year ago).

- Moncton = 12.92%, (up from 7.68% a year ago).
Class A vacancy rate = 5.34%, (up from 3.98% in 2019).

- Halifax = 14.91%, (up from 14.80%).
Class A vacancy rate = 16.95%, (up from 16.50%).

- St. John’s, Newfoundland = 19.89%, (up from 17.18% a year ago).
Class A vacancy rate = 28.27%, (up from 20.33% in 2019).



The survey also looked at office rental rates.

The Atlantic Canadian office market was split between ups and downs in average rents over the period June 2019 to June 2020.


- St. John’s, NL = has the highest average net rental rate, at $18.19/ft², (despite dropping 4.9% from $19.13/ft² a year ago).
Class A net rents = 22.08/ft² (from $23.48/ft² over the same period).

- Halifax = the overall average net rental rate up 2%, to $14.30/ft² (from $14.02/ft²).
Class A rents = $17.78/ft² (up from $17.21/ft²),

- Fredericton = overall average net rental rate edged down to $13.79/ft² (from $13.84/ft²),
Class A rents = $15.27/ft² (up from $15.31/ft² a year ago).

- Moncton = overall net rent moved to $13.01/ft² (from $12.84/ft²),
Class A rents = $14.24/ft² (from $14.05/ft²).

- Saint John = fell 1.4% overall to $12.76/ft² (from $12.94/ft²),
Class A rents = $14.86/ft² (from $15.83/ft²).

- Charlottetown = overall average net rents moved up 1.4% to $15.53/ft² (from $15.32/ft² in 2019),
Class A rents = $15.96/ft² (from $15.92/ft²).