Couple randomly attacked, 1 stabbed, by group of teens in Toronto, police say
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Office vacancies in Canada were at the highest level in decades this quarter as new supply continued to come onto the market while the fourth wave of COVID-19 slowed an expected return to work, according to the latest report from CBRE Group Inc.
The commercial real estate firm said Thursday that the national office vacancy rate hit 15.7 per cent in the quarter that runs to the end of September, up from 15.3 per last quarter, for the highest level since 1994.
"We were really hoping to see a greater sense of normalcy in September, and unfortunately that has simply been delayed or deferred," said Paul Morassutti, vice chair of CBRE in Canada.
He said though that the market is showing signs of resiliency despite the pressures, noting that prices have remained fairly stable thanks to institutional owners who are willing to wait out a temporary dip.
"I think everyone has to stop clutching at pearls, take a deep breath, and realize that the office market isn't going away."
He said there are also fewer companies looking to sublet space as they anticipate a potential return to work, while many companies are putting off decisions about how much space they need until their lease is up for renewal.
"What we're finding from tenants right now is for the most part nobody is doing anything dramatic, they are focused first on a back to work program and what that may look like," said Morassutti.
While most companies haven't made firm decisions on how working from home will play into future office demand, he said the uncertainty around it is probably the major reason institutions haven't bought any office buildings in Canada over the last couple of years.
The office market will also have to see increased demand to absorb all the supply coming to market, which was spurred by low vacancy rates before the pandemic and difficult to stop once construction is underway.
There was about 1.6 million square metres (17.3 million square feet) of office space under construction in the third quarter, on top of the roughly 7 million square metres (75.5 million square feet) of direct and sublet space already available, with more than half of the construction concentrated in downtown Toronto.
Morassutti said technology companies will be key to creating that demand.
"I think you're going to see technology demand continue to be a huge driver of new office space, which is why I don't believe the remote working issue is as dramatic an issue as others would have you believe."
He said that already there aren't many options for companies that want large spaces, while the downtown Toronto vacancy rate actually ticked down 10 basis points to 9.9 per cent in the quarter.
Combining the suburban market, Toronto's vacancy rate was 13.7 per cent in the quarter, while Vancouver's was 7.4 per cent. Montreal was 14.7 per cent, and Calgary, where oil and gas companies have been paring back for years, was 30.1 per cent.
The story is quite different on the industrial front, where vacancies are low as demand for distribution and logistics space remains at an all-time high.
CBRE says the national vacancy rate for industrial space was at two per cent in the quarter, while several markets including Vancouver, London, the Waterloo Region and Toronto have availability rates of less than one per cent.
The sector is constrained from building because of a shortage of land and difficult zoning laws and Canada could start to see multi-storey warehouse space to help fill the gap, said Morassutti.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 23, 2021.
A man has been transported to hospital after police say he was stabbed in a random attack carried out by a group of teens in Toronto on Friday night.
Dozens of Ontarians are expressing frustration in the province’s health-care system after their family doctors either dropped them as patients or threatened to after they sought urgent care elsewhere.
With carriers' flight volumes above the 60th parallel hovering below pre-pandemic levels, Canadian North’s first Inuk CEO now bears the task of balancing those financial and logistical challenges with the needs of communities for which she feels a deep affinity.
One of greatest climbing guides on Mount Everest has scaled the world's highest peak for the 29th time, extending his own record for most times to the summit, expedition organizers said Sunday.
Amid significant criticism from advocates, Diversity, Inclusion and Persons with Disabilities Minister Kamal Khera is defending her government's long-promised, newly unveiled Canada Disability Benefit, calling the funds an "initial step," but without laying out a timeline for future expansion of the program.
RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
Homicide investigators in B.C. say murder charges have been laid against a fourth Indian national in connection to the killing of Sikh activist Hardeep Singh Nijjar outside a Surrey gurdwara last year.
Past left-leaning presidents who enacted some of the most socially liberal policies on the continent have given way to a self-proclaimed "anarcho-capitalist" whose fiery appraisals of social justice and efforts to dismantle diversity and equity programs have made him into a global far-right icon.
For decades, North Bay, Ontario's water supply has harboured chemicals associated with liver and developmental issues, cancer and complications with pregnancy. It's far from the only city with that problem.
A family of fifth generation farmers from Ituna, Sask. are trying to find answers after discovering several strange objects lying on their land.
A Listowel, Ont. man, drafted by the Hamilton Tigercats last week, is also getting looks from the NFL, despite only playing 27 games of football in his life.
The threat of zebra mussels has prompted the federal government to temporarily ban watercraft from a Manitoba lake popular with tourists.
A small Ajax dessert shop that recently received a glowing review from celebrity food critic Keith Lee is being forced to move after a zoning complaint was made following the social media influencer’s visit last month.
The Canada Science and Technology Museum is inviting visitors to explore their poop. A new exhibition opens at the Ottawa museum on Friday called, 'Oh Crap! Rethinking human waste.'
The Regina Police Service says it is the first in Saskatchewan and possibly Canada to implement new technology in its detention facility that will offer real-time monitoring of detainees’ vital health metrics.
Just as she had feared, a restaurant owner from eastern Quebec who visited Montreal had her SUV stolen, but says it was all thanks to the kindness of strangers on the internet — not the police — that she got it back.
The stakes have been set for a bet between Vancouver and Edmonton's mayors on who will win Round 2 of the Stanley Cup playoffs.
A grieving mother is hosting a helmet drive in the hopes of protecting children on Manitoba First Nations from a similar tragedy that killed her daughter.