Ranking of Office Vacancy Rates in Major Canadian Cities – First Quarter 2007

Alex Carrick -- June 7, 2007

According to commercial real estate specialist Cushman & Wakefield LePage, office vacancy rates tightened a little in city centres across Canada, but eased slightly in the suburbs in first-quarter 2007. The Canada-wide downtown vacancy rate was 5.3% at the end of March 2007 versus 5.6% a quarter ago and 6.8% the year before. However, the suburban rate rose to 8.2% versus 7.8% in December 2006 and 8.4% in March 2006. The net effect was that the metro-wide vacancy rate stayed the same in first-quarter 2007 as in the previous quarter at 6.5%, which was down from 7.4% a year ago. The current low vacancy rate figures point to strong late-cycle office building construction.