Suburbs leading demand uptick for office space in Canadian markets: report [Video]

Canada is on pace for its first year of positive office leasing activity since before the pandemic after six of 10 major markets recorded net positive demand in the third quarter, according to a report Tuesday.

Toronto led the way during the quarter, with more than 650,000 square feet of positive net absorption — the amount of spaced leased compared with inventory that became available. That was split between downtown and suburban buildings, commercial real estate services firm CBRE said.

The strength was offset by softness in Montreal, Vancouver and Ottawa, which each experienced more than 100,000 square feet of negative net absorption and saw overall office vacancy rates rise quarter-over-quarter.

The report said suburban markets continued to show improvement for the fifth straight quarter, with the national suburban vacancy rate falling one-tenth of a percentage point to 17.3 per cent.

Meanwhile, the national downtown vacancy rate rose three-tenths of a percentage point to 19.7 per cent.

Seven Canadian cities recorded …