'Most of the city is evacuating': Gridlock on Alberta highway after evacuation order in Fort McMurray
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
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.
Four Fort McMurray neighbourhoods were ordered to evacuate on Tuesday as a wildfire gets closer to the city.
Saskatchewan RCMP have revealed that a historic sexual assault investigation has led to the discovery of alleged crimes against children dating back to 2005.
Less than a week after two public sculptures featuring a livestream between Dublin, Ireland, and New York City debuted, 'inappropriate behaviour' in real-time interactions between people in the two cities has prompted a temporary shutdown.
After a final frame that saw the visiting Vancouver Canucks claw their way back and tie the game late, a point shot by Oilers defenceman Evan Bouchard with 38 seconds left (until what seemed like certain overtime) iced the 3-2 victory for Edmonton to knot the series.
Kansas City Chiefs kicker Harrison Butker railed against Pride month, working women, President Biden's leadership during the COVID-19 pandemic and abortion during a commencement address at Benedictine College last weekend.
King Charles III has unveiled the first portrait of the monarch completed since he assumed the throne, a vivid image that depicts him in the bright red uniform of the Welsh Guards against a background of similar hues.
The annual list of Canada's top restaurants in the country was just released and here are the places that made the 2024 cut.
The province has released more information on its plan to break up Alberta Health Services and replace it with four sector-based health agencies.
The Biden administration has told key lawmakers it is sending a new package of more than US$1 billion in arms and ammunition to Israel, two congressional aides said Tuesday.
A team is ready to help an entangled North Atlantic right whale in the Gulf of St. Lawrence.
A $200 reward is being offered by a North Vancouver family for the safe return of their beloved chicken, Snowflake.
Two daughters and a mother were reunited online 40 years later thanks to a DNA kit and a Zoom connection despite living on three separate continents and speaking different languages.
Mother's Day can be a difficult occasion for those who have lost or are estranged from their mom.
YES Theatre Young Company opened its acclaimed kids’ show, One Small Step, at Sudbury Theatre Centre on Saturday.
An Ottawa pizzeria is being recognized as one of the top 20 deep-dish pizzas in the world.
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.