Robson Rent Rates on the Rise

A Colliers study released this morning analyzing leasing at the world's high-end shopping corridors shows Vancouver's Robson as the second priciest in Canada, at $200/SF. (Toronto's Bloor is No. 1, at $315/SF.)

What was more dramatic though was the increase in those rates for Robson over the last year--a 33.3% jump. (Somebody's been doubling down on their Wheaties.) Alberni was ranked fourth in Canada, at $150 (43% increase), followed by Granville, at $125 (2% decrease). Colliers International VP retail consulting James Smerdon tells Bisnow that the Granville decrease is a bit of an anomaly. "The decrease there is not reflective of the entire street," he says. "There was not a lot of vacancy on Granville. There wasn't a sample of deals to get good data from."

Luxury retailers are opening up to the Canadian market, and space here is still a bargain, James adds. Vancouver is a popular Pacific Rim destination for people travelling from places like mainland China. (Everybody wants to see where they film all the TV shows that take place in NY.) "Many people are very brand conscious, which is really attractive to the luxury sector." While Canadian markets enjoy that spike in rental rates, reflective of where the luxury market is heading, we still don't compete with luxury destination draws like New York's Fifth Avenue ($3,052USD) or Hong Kong's Queen's Road Central ($2,087USD). "In most of our major markets, these ultra-high end luxury brands have a number of streets to choose from," James adds. "In some of the international destinations, they are only looking at one street, which really spikes those rents in markets like Paris and New York that much higher."