The overall vacancy rate for office space in Halifax Regional Municipality dropped, settling at 14.62 per cent in June 2019, versus 15.09 per cent in 2018, reports the Atlantic Canada real estate advisory firm, Turner Drake & Partners. This drop came despite an uptick in the vacancy rate in the downtown Central Business District (CBD),

The CBD is the city’s main supplier of office space, representing over 40 per cent of the rental supply. The CBD saw a 0.86 percentage point increase in vacancy year-over-year, from 18.03 per cent in 2018 to 18.89 in 2019.

The average net rental rate for the city held relatively steady, ticking up three cents, or 0.21 per cent, from $14.05/ft.² to $14.08/ft.², while the CBD saw a decrease in the average net rental rate of 1.23 per cent.

Turner Drake & Partners expects increasing demand to be sufficient to keep the vacancy rate from further increases in the near term, and good deals are available. City-wide, Class A rents decreased by 1 per cent year over year, from $17.38/ft.² to $17.21/ft.², while Class B space held steady at $12.93/ft.² versus $12.92/ft.² a year ago, and Class C space fell from $10.68/ft.² to $10.55/ft.².

More new space is expected to be brought to market in the next year, downtown and outside the CBD. Halifax has enjoyed economic strength over the past number of years, Turner Drake & Partners predicts the trend is expected to continue in the year ahead.