Office vacancies rose in Q1 as companies deferred leasing decisions: Morguard
BNN Bloomberg
Vacancy rates in Canada’s office leasing market rose during the first quarter, as millions of square feet of available space returned to the market and private sector companies delayed leasing decisions.
Around 2.7 million square feet of vacant office space across the country re-entered the market during the first quarter, according to a report last week from Morguard Corp. Keith Reading, the senior director of research at Morguard, said in an interview with BNNBloomberg.ca Monday that Canada’s office vacancy rate has reached record highs for two main reasons.
“One is the movement to work from home, whether it's full remote or hybrid,” he said adding that a lot of companies are electing to reduce office space as their lease ends.
“The other thing that's leading to this is that there's a lot of uncertainty from an economic standpoint and so companies are taking a wait-and-see approach.”