[Daver]

Calgary seems to be firing on all cylinders and mostly in the downtown office vacancy rate which currently sits at a selfish 1.2% and is the lowest of all major centres in the world, according to CB Richard Ellis. Calgary is probably lower now as we move through the second quarter. I think Calgary really needs to get some of these projects off the ground. Office space absorbtion is phenominal, and there's no end in sight.

link http://www.cbre.ca/EN/

 

[LordMandeep]

i think the developers are waiting till it hits zero to make sure they will be able to sell thier building. :jk:


lol, maybe there are not enough construction workers. Thats a problems in most major cities.

 

[whitefordj]

i think the developers are waiting till it hits zero to make sure they will be able to sell thier building. :jk:


lol, maybe there are not enough construction workers. Thats a problems in most major cities.[/


there could be a thread of truth to what you say, and it may turn out to be a good thing. the skyscrapers that do get built will be taller single towers, rather than shorter twins. I hope this is the case. :happy:

 

[WinnipegPatriot]

If anyone suffers because of this, good; an office tower or two should have been started a couple of years ago. Calgary developers are idiots for not building sooner.

 

[ssiguy2]

I know there are tons of proposals for more office towers in Calgary but how many are under construction at this moment?

 

[Boris550]

There's only about 1.5 Million Square Feet under construction, and they are 100% pre-leased.

That accounts for Livingston Place, Centrium Place, Homburg-Harris, and Opus 8.

EDIT: And I agree that our developers have been very dumb. At this rate, vacancy is going to hit 0% in no time.

 

[cmd uw]

There's only about 1.5 Million Square Feet under construction, and they are 100% pre-leased.

That accounts for Livingston Place, Centrium Place, Homburg-Harris, and Opus 8.

EDIT: And I agree that our developers have been very dumb. At this rate, vacancy is going to hit 0% in no time.

Perhaps developers are waiting to 'capitalize' on lease rates OR maybe financers are hesitant to finance a larger tower at this point?

 

[LordMandeep]

or maybe they think something will go wrong in the econmey by the time its built?? It happened hear in Ontario. However i doubt that will happen in a while/

 

[Daver]

or maybe they think something will go wrong in the econmey by the time its built?? It happened hear in Ontario. However i doubt that will happen in a while/

Certainly, a quick downturn in the oil patch would not provide a sustainable long term leasing arangement for larger approved and proposed developments. There's always a risk in this game,...specially for Calgary which might be why the vacancy rate will remain low to none. Having 100% leasing rates in new proposals/developments doesn't secure the long term cost of the building. That tells me that development is driven primarily by investment and not by total corporate backing. Buildings constructed by spec. are rare in Calgary, thus the "twin" concept. Caution is paramount with office tower development until the economy in Calgary is fully diversified.

 

[LordMandeep]

True, Toronto and area diversifed and they never faced the big decline like the big US rust belt cities did.

But i really think something really major needs to happen for oil prices to collapse. If something major happens it will moew likely raise oil prices.

 

[whitefordj]

there will be no decline unless we all stop driving cars and fighting wars in the very near future. so i think that even if prices drop dramaticly, there would still be a need for office space as there would still be money to be made. a low oil price would still be very profitable to some.

 

[samsonyuen]

Wow, that's great!

 

[Bertez]

Lowest in the world......that is amazing.....good job

 

[Daver]

Q2, projection for office vacancy rates in Calgary?.....0.4% my guess

Any takers?

 

[Daver]

With all due respect to our wonderful sister city to the north. Calgary is pulling away from Edmonton with all developments exsisting in commercial,Industrial and retail.

Inventories

Calgary dowtown office space- sf. 31.20 million
Calgary Industrial- sf. 102.9 million
Calgary retail - sf. 29.02 million

Edmonton downtown office space- sf. 13.14 million
Edmonton industrial- sf. 82.9 million
Edmonton retail- sf. 25.2 million


At one time Edmonton really dominated in Industrial sf. (square footage)