Canada needs more homes, and maybe fewer offices. Are conversions the answer? | Globalnews.ca

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Canada needs more homes, and maybe fewer offices. Are conversions the answer?

Two problems facing Canadian real estate seem, at first glance, like an obvious answer to one another.for everyone in Canada to live affordably; the second is that more offices than ever are sitting vacant or half-empty with remote and hybrid work styles keeping workers at home and away from deteriorating downtowns.

Once the headquarters of now-defunct Dome Petroleum, the 10-storey offices had been vacant for two years before the non-profit housing provider HomeSpace Society stepped in and took over the bones of the building. The project was kickstarted with help from a City of Calgary program that’s allocating $1 billion over 10 years in hopes of converting nearly six million square feet of empty office spaces into housing and other productive uses.The program will cover $75 per square foot of converted office space, up to $15 million per project. In Neoma’s case, both the province and federal government also jumped on board to help fund the adaptive use.

that Canada’s commercial property sector is vulnerable to higher interest rates as office vacancy rates remain elevated in many major cities such as Toronto and Vancouver.Canada’s biggest lenders are tied to the health of not just the housing market through their mortgage loans but to financing for commercial landlords as well, which economist Craig Alexander said could drive a “weaker” economy and the possibility of a steeper downturn than initially forecast if those loans go sour.

 

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