Calgary led Canada in new office construction in 2015 despite vacancy problems

A recent report has found Calgary ranks fifth in North America for new office construction.

Toronto and Calgary made up 60% of the total office space under construction in Canada at the end of 2015, according to Avison Young’s Commercial Real Estate 2016 Forecast. Even though 36,000 people in the oil and gas industry lost their jobs last year and office vacancy rates rose to a high 16%, Calgary continued to build more office space, totaling almost 6.5 million square feet.

The city saw the most office construction in Canada, with even Toronto somewhat behind at 5.4 million square feet but also had the second-highest vacancy rates, behind Lethbridge at almost 25%.

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“New construction set for completion during the next 24 months will generate further instability with five projects totalling 3.9 million square feet of class AA office space currently under construction downtown,” said the Calgary-specific report. “With many companies focused on reducing costs, demand for office space will remain limited in 2016 with some improvement expected in 2017.”

Avison Young’s forecast for 2016 calls for greater instability and higher vacancy rates throughout 201