Burnaby has rapidly outpaced Vancouver as the municipality with the most purpose-built TV and film studio space in the Lower Mainland, according to a new industry report.
A report released this April by Colliers International reveals nearly half of all studio space used by production companies is located in Burnaby. Burnaby has 838,491 square feet of purpose-built space and 239,676 square feet of converted space. Metro Vancouver has 2,196,995 of total studio space. Vancouver only accounts for 19.5 per cent of total studio industrial inventory.
“The very strong demand coming from the film and television industry is only exacerbating the lack of available industrial space,” the report states.
The industrial vacancy rate in Metro Vancouver has remained consistently low over the past ten years, averaging at 2.9 per cent. The vacancy rate in the first quarter of 2017 is 2.2 per cent, up slightly from 1.7 per cent, year-over-year.
For the 2015 to 2016 year, B.C.’s film and television industry production value totaled $2.15 billion, down slightly from $2.23 billion from 2014 to 2015. Alberta had the second-highest production volume at $246 million between 2015 and 2016. Ontario has the highest national production volume – $2.62 billion – but the film industry still accounts for a larger portion of B.C.’s GDP. British Columbia also saw a sharper spike in production than Ontario, with 41.1 per cent growth year-over-year versus Ontario’s 12.5 per cent growth.
Access Colliers' entire film industry report here.
