OFFICE TENANTS RETURN TO CALGARY’S DOWNTOWN

Colliers International says a rising

trend of “reverse migration” is starting to bring office tenants back into Calgary’s core, resulting in a decline in the downtown vacancy rate during the first three months of the year. The commercial realtor says the vacancy rate slipped to 25.23 per cent from 26.45 per cent in the last quarter of 2018, thanks to tenants moving back downtown to be closer to clients or to take advantage of aggressive terms being offered by landlords. It says it expects the trend to continue through the year driven by numerous small transactions as most tenants needing more than 20,000 square feet with upcoming lease expiries this year and next have already completed transactions. The report is the second in two weeks to note the improvements in the market which has ballooned by more than four million square feet of new space since 2014 despite an oil price crash that year.