Market Highlights

• The Metro Vancouver office market finished 2019 with a record low vacancy rate of 3.7%, a 10 basis point (bps) decrease quarter-over-quarter and 190 bps year-over-year.
• Vacancy in the Downtown core fell 10 bps from Q3 2019, a bellwether of continued strong demand for office space.
• Suburban markets built on a stellar Q3 performance, with the vacancy rate holding steady at an all-time low of 5.2%.
• As 2019 closed, vacancy decreased across all markets year-over-year. This trend is anticipated to continue through 2020 with high expectations for upcoming developments.

Economics

• As of September 2019, Canada’s gross domestic product (GDP) inched up by 10 bps month-over-month and gained 1.6% year-over-year. In the same period, Greater Vancouver’s GDP grew by 2.8%.
• British Columbia’s Consumer Price Index was reported at 2.2% by Statistics Canada in November 2019.
• In November 2019, BC’s unemployment rate settled at 5.0%, remaining the lowest in Canada (5.9%nationally).
• In December 2019, the Bank of Canada maintained overnight rate target steady at 1.75%.

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