Metro Vancouver Real Estate Market Reports

Vancouver Office Market Report

Metro Vancouver was one of the tightest office markets in North America through third-quarter 2025 as vacancy and availability remained stable with no new downtown development underway and modest new supply in the pipeline. Stabilized vacancy in the suburbs, particularly Burnaby and Surrey, combined with tightening vacancy in Vancouver Periphery has offset rising vacancy in the Broadway Corridor and Downtown urban submarkets. Overall vacancy downtown has stubbornly remained +/- 70 bps from 12% for the past two years even as class A vacancy has tightened and overall vacancy in most suburban markets fell to less than 7%. Regional class A vacancy has averaged ~8.5% since 2023 while downtown class A vacancy averaged ~11% in the same period. Tenants downtown may be discounting leasing space in ‘vintage’ class A premises. Office leasing decisions require clarity on long-term business needs. Elevated economic uncertainty has encouraged significant hesitation for many tenants. As a result, some occupiers may have paused leasing decisions in 3Q25. Regional absorption of more than 425k sf through third-quarter 2025, led by Burnaby (159k), Surrey (63k), the Tri-Cities (60k), and the North Shore (46k) demonstrated strong suburban demand that has comprised 91% of the space occupied to date. New construction remained largely at a standstill in Downtown Vancouver in the back half of 2025, which continued to contribute to the rising risk of a lack of new class A/trophy space in the late 2020s given development timelines. While achievable office rents downtown will likely play a larger role in determining when new construction kicks off, demand downtown needs to improve notably to provide the confidence needed to support the first new tower of the next development cycle. Recent news that at least two large class A opportunities downtown are coming available from a notable tech tenant consolidating its operations will provide some relief in a submarket where there are limited options greater than 50k sf in size.

Vancouver Industrial Market Report

GVA industrial vacancy was stable at 3.0% at third-quarter 2025, which remained the highest level of vacancy recorded in the GVA since 2015. Vacancy had been rising since 2021. Negative absorption of ~69k sf in the first nine months of 2025 marked an improvement with Q3 absorption of ~343k sf offsetting substantial negative absorption in the second quarter. Sublease space availability reached ~2.1 msf at third-quarter 2025, which marked the second-highest amount recorded since 2008 when research coverage of the region was initiated. GVA industrial leasing activity appeared to regain some of its earlier momentum in third-quarter 2025 after a temporary case of market paralysis in Q2 likely related to U.S. tariff threats. Maple Ridge-Pitt Meadows had the highest industrial vacancy in the GVA at 6.2%, followed by Vancouver (4.0%), Delta (3.8%) and Burnaby (3.7%). The North Shore (1.8%) was the lowest followed by Richmond (2.2%). While the shifting threat of U.S. tariffs may not have abated in third-quarter 2025, the potential repercussions and subsequent economic impacts are increasingly factored in by Canadian businesses that are making real estate decisions. The flight to quality that has been manifesting in the GVA’s industrial market will initiate a resumption in new supply breaking ground in 2026 despite the elevated vacancy generated by rising availability in inefficient class B and C buildings. Industrial strata sale proceeds in the first nine months of 2025 are the lowest since 2020 in terms of overall dollar volume. Strata pricing has continued to decline thanks to low demand, which has led to fewer strata projects starting. GVA industrial sale proceeds of ~C$625M in the first nine months of 2025 will likely result in the lowest annual investment in more than decade with quarterly industrial sales by dollar volume in steep decline since the third quarter of 2024.