Calgary Leads Canadian Cities in Office Development

Vacancy Rates and Skyscraper Development Makes Calgary #1

Bigger, better and taller office buildings are part of Calgary’s rapidly evolving skyline and also of a much “bigger” picture, one that has Calgary leading all other Canadian cities in the office development market.

See some of Calgary’s Skyline History here.

Yes, that’s right; Calgary is number one in Canada when it comes to the lowest downtown office vacancy rates.

The news may come as no surprise however as Calgary managed to surpass Toronto in 2013 to take top spot with 8.9 million square feet in development!

Calgary’s low 6.1 percent downtown office vacancy rate for the first three months of 2014 puts the city below that in Montreal and Toronto.

In addition, the first three months of 2014 was the fifth consecutive quarter that Calgary saw declining vacancy rates in the in the office leasing market.

Oil and Gas Sector

Leading the charge for these declining rates are big name energy companies looking to consolidate their workforce in the city core, a place where about 12 percent of all energy-related business deals done around the world in 2012 happened according to Canadian Economic Development (CED).

That is a lot of deals, and a lot of money! See our Alberta Oil and Gas Blog today.

Edmonton’s Downtown Office Market

Our provinces capital city has not been as lucky as Calgary when it comes to downtown office vacancy rates and new developments.

Since 2012, office vacancy rates in Edmonton’s downtown have hovered at around 8 percent.

Most of the city’s downtown office buildings, approximately 80 percent, were constructed before 1990 with only two new towers underway slated for completion sometime in 2016.

Maybe Edmonton should take note of its southern neighbour as a modern work environment is an integral piece of the puzzle for many companies today.

More Canadian Economics

Looking for more interesting everyday economic articles? See an entire list here at our Canadian Economics Summary today!

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