The fourth quarter of 2011 capped off a record year for absorption in the Calgary downtown office market, according to Colliers International.
About 630,000 square feet of new space was absorbed in the fourth quarter alone, Colliers says, bringing yearly absorption to 2,837,000 square feet, and dropping the overall vacancy rate from 11.97 per cent to 4.49 per cent in one year.
Absorption in 2011 was about 39 per cent higher than the previous record year of 2005.
The owners of Eighth Avenue Place announced late in the year that they planned to construct a 40-storey west tower on the development that would add 841,000 square feet for initial occupancy in summer of 2014.
A key influence for the Calgary market is energy prices, and high crude oil prices are stoking the oilpatch's demand for space in office towers and industrial shops.
The city's largest office project, The Bow, will open in 2012 to house Cenovus Energy and EnCana staff, but even that won't boost vacancy rates downtown beyond about 6 per cent, according to Colliers.
Edmonton's vacancy rate declined in the fourth quarter of 2011 to 10.74 per cent from 11.26 per cent, according to Colliers.
from Western Investor March 2012
