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HAUNTED HERITAGEA6
A11
ERNIE GARDY 403-651-3093
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FREE oct 17 to oct 23 2014 issue 04-41
real estate news from industry experts
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COMING UP BIG CODY STUART, Managing Editor
Calgary’s commercial sector still going strong CODY STUART
managing editor
T
he Calgary Tower’s new, muchdiscussed exterior lighting system may serve as more than an eye-catching attraction. It might also shine new light on the city’s burgeoning commercial sector, which, according to new statistics, is leading the
country in a number of key categories for 2014. Commercial leasing activity in the city is among the most active in Canada, with companies having snatched up 1.2 million square feet of space through the first nine months of 2014, according to commercial real estate firm CBRE Limited. Continued demand for commercial space in Calgary, meanwhile, has created one the tightest markets in Canada. As of the third quarter, the overall vacancy rate in Calgary’s downtown office market stood at just 9.1 per cent. Toronto had the tightest market in the country with a vacancy rate of 5.3 per cent. “Downtown is (always) going to have a high demand,” said Rick
SINGLE FAMILY
Urbanczyk, senior vice-president of office leasing and sales with real estate firm JLL Calgary. “The majority of oil and gas firms are here, law firms are here and we’re a transit-oriented city where it all funnels into the downtown. That’s just kind of the way it works. “We don’t have hubs for transit outside of our downtown core, so I think that’s where you’re going to continue to see demand in our marketplace.” As for how much renters are shelling out to obtain space in Calgary’s thriving office market, the average Class A rent in the core is $33.40 per square foot, outpacing second-place Vancouver ($33.15 per square foot) and third-place Toronto ($27.31 per square foot). The average-sized tenant also continues to grow. Two to three decades
1398
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1769
1736
1699 1230
1336 1197
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SEP12 OCT12 NOV12 DEC12 JAN13 FEB13 MAR13 APR13 MAY13 JUN13 JUL13 AUG13 SEP13 OCT13 NOV13 DEC13 JAN14 FEB14 MAR14 APR14 MAY14 JUN14 JUL14 AUG14 SEP14
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1517
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1766
2027
MLS® NUMBER OF UNITS SOLD* SEP ‘12 – SEP ‘14
ago, only a handful of companies in the city would occupy 800,000 square feet or more, said CBRE Limited executive vice-president Greg Kwong. “Now, there’s probably double that,” he said, noting downtown’s 10 largest tenants are responsible for nearly a quarter (23.56 per cent) of the occupied space. Meanwhile, continued demand for downtown commercial space has sparked a boom in new office construction. While the total dollar amount invested in Calgary’s commercial market during the first half of the year dropped to $1.4 billion from $2.1 billion in 2013, according to a report from Avison Young, more than 841,000 square feet of office space has already been added to the core this year.
CALGARY PRICE INCREASE LARGEST IN CANADA CREB® STAFF
S
trong gains in Alberta and Ontario fueled a 0.3 per cent gain in Statistics Canada’s new housing price index in August – the largest increase since January. Prices in Calgary’s census metropolitan area increased 0.5 per cent compared with July – tops in Canada.
MARKET A3
*All statistics based on monthly data compiled by CREB® via MLS® activity.
MLS®C3625761
MLS®C3634487
With 9.7 million square feet of office space proposed for the downtown core, the Calgary market could expand by as much as 25 per cent in the next several years. Another 3.8 million square feet is under construction, including the 760,000 square-foot TELUS Sky tower and 2.4-million-square-foot Brookfield Place development. Brookfield Place, at 246 metres in height, will be the tallest building in Western Canada when completed in 2017. It has already leased one million square feet of space to energy giant Cenovus, which is expected to move in by 2018.
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CONTENTS NEWS BRIEFS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A3 EVENT LISTING . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 WEEKLY FEED . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A6 INDUSTRY. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A8 Surrounding communities
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MORTGAGE RATES . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A10 POP THE QUESTION. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . A12 Jon Lea, Senior Transit Planner
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LEE EDWARDS
403-540-0540
lee@braggcreekrealestate.com
CANYON CREEK