Office vacancies rising
Office vacancies, which had declined a little in late 2021, resumed their rise in the first quarter of 2022 (which, alarmingly, is already over). Downtown offices which were at around 8% vacancy at the start of 2020 are now around 16%.
DeWolf 22:29 on 2022-04-06 Permalink
Surprisingly low given all the catastrophizing we’ve heard about downtown. The office vacancy rate in downtown Calgary is 30%. In Toronto it’s just under 10%.
Joey 08:35 on 2022-04-07 Permalink
Presumably “vacancy” means “not rented” as opposed to “unoccupied during business hours” – I would imagine that a lot of companies were stuck paying rent on multi-year leases when the pandemic hit, even as their workers stayed home. Anyway, the spin in this story is that the increase in vacancy is a result of increased supply, not pandemic-induced changes in demand. The latter will probably take a few years to work through the system given the reality of multi-year leases and the significant financial supports enacted to help business to pay their bills (including a federal program aimed at covering commercial rent).