Barclay Street Real Estate says the number of sales were up in 2017 and there were signifcant shifts in investor focus
Barclay Street Real Estate says the number of sales were up in 2017 and there were signifcant shifts in investor focus
Transactions in Calgary's commercial real estate sector reached $2.35 billion in 2017, slightly down from the previous year, but the number of investment sales grew by 25 per cent, according to a new report by Barclay Street Real Estate.
Calgary’s commercial real estate market could be poised for a rebound in 2018. All eyes will be on Calgary’s commercial real estate market this year, with hopes that the downtown office sector, which continued to struggle in 2017, will rebound in 2018.
"Retail activity percolated along the 4th Street corridor and 17th Avenue," noted Barclay Street Real Estate analyst Anthony Scott.
The Calgary 2017 Year-End Retail Market Analysis by Barclay Street Real Estate indicated Calgary’s overall retail vacancy rate was down to 3.1 per cent at the end of the year after rising into the mid-three per cent range earlier in the year.
The move is expected to increase the vacancy rate in the Beltline by 4.5 per cent, bringing the area’s commercial vacancy rate up to 25 per cent – which would be identical to neighbouring downtown Calgary’s current vacancy rate.
For the entire first half of 2017, Calgary saw a 24 per cent in-crease in the total dollar volume of real estate transactions, pushing it to more than $1 billion, re-ports Barclay Street Real Estate. In the same period, Edmonton transactions were also slightly higher than $1 billion, up 52 per cent from the first half of 2016.“The light at the end of the tunnel is getting stronger,” said David Wallach, president of Barclay Street Real Estate.
The TELUS Sky tower in downtown Calgary is the last skyscraper under construction during the city’s most recent building cycle, but it faces a tough challenge to lease office space in an economy that is recovering slowly.
Calgary has begun to embrace a new way of thinking about its commercial spaces
With nearly a fifth of its space already dark, Calgary’s Beltline area saw office take-up go negative by 115,000 square feet in the second quarter of this year, according to a report from Barclay Street Real Estate.