The world’s largest real estate services firm CB Richard Ellis reports that the strength of British Columbia’s resource sector is the driver pushing Metro Vancouver’s office vacancy rates back down. CBRE tracked buildings with 22 million square feet of space, and found a vacancy rate of 4.3 per cent at the end of June versus 5.6 per cent at the same point of last year.
Avison Young has found the same thing in its Mid-Year 2011 Metro Vancouver Office Market Report:
The overall Metro Vancouver vacancy rate declined to 7.6% at mid-year 2011 from 8.4% at year-end 2010. Downtown vacancy slipped to 5% from 5.2%. If the space availability factor (SAF) is taken into consideration, Downtown’s effective availability rate is currently 7.2%, relatively unchanged over the past 12 months.
Says said Anthio Yuen, senior researcher in Vancouver with CB Richard Ellis:
“Downtown definitely has moved back toward pre-recession levels in terms of vacancy.”
Incremental growth in the sectors of B.C.’s economy that are now doing well that is bringing the vacancy rate down, especially the resource sector.
- Charles Edwards frequently blogs on Canadian REIT topics.
