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Leasing activity slows amid uncertainty, fundamental trends stay consistent
Office-using employment growth in Alberta has accelerated again, averaging over 5.0% annual growth over the past three months. Occupiers appear to be putting a pause on leasing due to macroeconomic concerns, despite recovering sentiment around the office sector. With a federal election on the horizon, a weakened Canadian dollar, and an aggressively positioned incoming U.S. president, many occupiers are reevaluating their real estate strategies. Consequently, fourth quarter leasing activity was the lowest on record in 2024 and significantly lower than Calgary typically observes in Q4, declining by 1.1 million square feet (msf) compared to last year. Despite the reduced activity, Calgary’s overall availability dropped by 280 basis points (bps) from last year to 19.5%. Only the South and West End Downtown submarkets reported higher availability than the city average, at 26.3% and 36.1%, respectively. Available sublease space fell to 2.0 msf, down 0.8 msf from last year and 0.3 msf from the previous quarter.