Leo Lee

Land acquisitions have seen significant appreciation in price, with a 23% increase in total land sales volume in the past five years. The demand for warehousing during the pandemic led to a surge in industrial land acquisitions, with sales activity jumping 421% from 2020 to 2021. In terms of commercial land, Canada’s market has remained relatively consistent over time, with a spike in private investment in 2021 potentially due to surplus capital. Residential investment has also increased, rising 11% since 2018, with an 81% growth in investment sales between 2021 and 2022.

The vacancy rate in the Greater Vancouver Area saw an increase for the first time since Q1 2022, climbing 40 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 0.6%. This is the tenth consecutive quarter where vacancy rate is under 1%.

Kicking off 2023, the Greater Vancouver Area (GVA) office market saw the highest quarterly net absorption seen in over twenty years with 1.2 million square feet, and also the largest amount of new office space delivered in seven years with over 1.7 million square feet. The GVA weighted average office asking net rent remained stable at $34.67 per square foot this quarter. Part of this is because of an influx of space in better quality office buildings, some of which were newly delivered to the market. An increase in the supply of vacant and available office space in the GVA carries on, due to trends around the deepening adoption of hybrid work and concerns around an anticipated, temporary recession in early 2023. Against the backdrop of economic concerns, the GVA office market still provides good quality leasing opportunities for tenants.