Energy sector drives office leasing activity downtown; office market continues to tighten

The second quarter of 2024 posted stronger year over year office-using employment growth in Alberta, reaching 5.0%. Calgary’s office market continues to experience the same trends as the previous two quarters, with tightening availability and steadily rising rental rates. Modern, Class AA/A buildings continue to outperform and are experiencing increasing competition for contiguous space. As a result, the overall availability rate has declined 130 basis points (bps) from last year to 20.4%, with only two submarkets, South and West End Downtown, respectively, having a higher availability rate than the overall market. Functionally obsolete buildings, especially in the West End Downtown submarket, continue to inflate overall availability rates. Sublease space now sits at just over 2 million square feet (msf), down significantly from 2.9 msf reported a year ago.

Read the full report