July 21, 2020

Market Highlights

• Metro Vancouver experienced a substantial increase in overall office vacancy to 4.6%, 70 basis point (bps) more than in Q1 2020.
• Downtown vacancy grew for the first time in years, now at 3.3%, largely attributed to sublease supply soaring as firms look to reduce costs.
• Suburban markets registered a 40-bps increase to 6.0% as a result of flat leasing velocity and negative absorption.
• Metro Vancouver remains a highly competitive office market with the lowest overall vacancy in Canada.

Economics

• The global pandemic provoked an economic recession in Canada, driving Gross Domestic Product (GDP) to decrease 11.6% month-over-month in April 2020, after declining 2.1% in Q1 2020.
• British Columbia’s Consumer Price Index was reported by Statistics Canada at -0.2% in May over April 2020 and +0.2% over May 2019.
• In May 2020, employment rose by 290,000 jobs across Canada. The national unemployment rate reached an unprecedented 13.7%.
• Bank of Canada maintained the overnight target rate at 0.25% in June 2020.

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