Office Market Waits On New Development
“Anemic and sporadic demand” continues to characterize the GTA office market as it prepares for the onset of new development, according to an Avison Young report on Q1 2014. AY’s Bill Argeropoulos says that’s now five consecutive quarters of negative absorption. “Clearly, the rate at which the market has been expanding over the past 10 years—and especially during the development cycle of the past five years—indicates the need for a correction, and the present state of the market should be seen as such.” Despite the somewhat gloomy figures to date, numerous tenants of all sizes are poised to take advantage of the opportunity to secure premises in the more exposed assets, perhaps at more favourable rates—with the flight to quality becoming ever more apparent, Bill says. The demise of national law firm Heenan Blaikie—returning 137k SF of space in the West Tower of the Bay-Adelaide Centre—was one of the events that marked the quarter.
