Given the market conditions, one company behind one of the first conversions in Calgary a few years ago sees potential for more projects not just for the city but for troubled downtown office markets across Canada.Sign up to receive daily headline news from the Calgary Herald, a division of Postmedia Network Inc.By clicking on the sign up button you consent to receive the above newsletter from Postmedia Network Inc.
Yet when the project launched, the city was mired in an economic downturn, and vacancy soared for office. Since the mid-2010s, office vacancy has remained persistently high. Even amid the economic recovery, vacancy downtown was the highest among all major cities in Canada at nearly 33 per cent by the end of last year as the work-from-home trend that exploded during the pandemic continued to weigh on office.
Yet higher prices, continuing low supply and rising borrowing costs have also meant more potential buyers are renting, notes Ann-Marie Lurie, CREB’s chief economist.