The wait is over: Canada’s commercial market picks up pace
Vancouver is registering some of the sharpest enthusiasm in the national survey. The market is best described, according to the firm’s regional professionals, as “busy, but not easy.”
Industrial is leading performance, with large, well-capitalised occupiers using current conditions to lock in space and terms. Positive absorption in the Broadway Corridor and suburban markets more than offset a sublease return in the downtown core.
The larger risk is on the supply side: development pipelines across office, industrial, and retail remain thin, with vacancy tightening and rents beginning to respond. A potential return of major US technology firms to Vancouver could further reshape high-quality space demand.
“That added rigour is helping build confidence amid uncertainty,” said Brett Armstrong, Principal and Managing Director, Avison Young Vancouver, describing how clients are approaching transactions with greater deliberateness, a dynamic that is producing better-structured deals rather than fewer of them.
CBRE reported a fourth consecutive quarter of positive office absorption, led by Toronto, Calgary, and Montreal, as tightening premium office supply begins boosting demand across other asset classes.https://t.co/UZgoyunkVa
— Canadian Mortgage Professional Magazine (@CMPmagazine) July 7, 2026
Calgary’s momentum is broad-based and grounded in local fundamentals rather than any single policy outcome, which Avison Young’s regional professionals say makes it more resilient.
