Vancouver's market for office space has recently been described as being in a recovery, after downtown vacancy rates have fallen from a peak of 13.5% in 2003 to 8.6% as of mid-2005.
Historical data from Avison Young (link to pdf) show that overall downtown office vacancy rates (across all classes) were between 4% and 7% during much of the late 1990's, but then climbed sharply to their peak of 13.5% in 2003. Downtown Vancouver office vacancy rates for 2000 to mid-2005 are below:
- 2000: 4.1%
- 2001: 6.9%
- 2002: 13.2%
- 2003: 13.5%
- 2004: 10.3%
- 2005: 8.6%
Looking ahead to next year, Avison Young goes on to estimate that vacancy rates will fall to below 6% by the middle of 2006. In total, downtown Vancouver has 19.2 million square feet of rentable office space, of which 1.6 million square feet are available as of mid-2005.
In its most recent forecast update, CB Richard Ellis noted that Vancouver's shortage of office space remains a "critical problem" for the longer term, especially as groups related to the 2010 Olympics add to the demand for space.
