Metro Vancouver Industrial Market
Metro Vancouver’s industrial vacancy rate rose 30 basis points (bps) to 4.3% while net absorption remained in negative territory for the second consecutive quarter with -212,995 square feet. While the south of the Fraser River markets saw an overall vacancy drop of 20 bps to 4.4%, north of the Fraser River markets saw an increase of 70 bps, showing the dynamic nature of the regional industrial market.
New supply for the region totalled 521,000 square feet, largely concentrated in the Fraser Valley as several projects experienced delays to completion. While overall asking lease rates continued to plateau throughout the overall Vancouver market, the Tri-Cities submarket remained relatively stable with only a slight decrease compared to the surrounding markets.
Large block tenants occupying 100,000 square feet or more instilled confidence in the Vancouver market. Most notably, Pantos Logistics pre-leased 350,000 square feet at Beedie’s speculative development at the Tsawwassen First Nations, while D-Home International Logistics leased 123,000 square feet at 16111 Blundell Road in East Richmond.
Metro Vancouver Retail Market
Despite the rise in quarter-over-quarter (QoQ) vacancy, Vancouver is still a sought-after market. Speculation continues regarding the large blocks of vacated space since the closure of the Hudson’s Bay Company. Several Starbucks locations throughout Vancouver closed due to corporate restructuring, creating immediate opportunities for tenants seeking entry or repositioning their place in the Vancouver retail marketplace.
The Vancouver landscape continues to adapt in many ways. In the suburbs, Fitness World leased 35,000 square feet at Onni’s Gilmore Place, a transit-oriented mixed-use development in Burnaby for Spring 2026. At Surrey’s Guildford Town Centre, major tenant activity and repositioning within the mall include Nike’s concept store moving into the two floors formerly occupied by Muji, and Aritzia moving into the 20,000-square-foot space formerly occupied by Forever 21, becoming its largest location in Canada.
Metro Vancouver Office Market
The Vancouver office market is still seeing high vacancy rates as return to office momentum grows and flight to quality trend continues. The regional vacancy rate held steady at 9.5% with a slight uptick of 20 basis points. The downtown vacancy rate sits at 12.5%, with the gap between class AAA and B/C spaces exceeding 5%.
The market saw a boost in confidence from Lululemon’s 289,557 square foot lease at 725 Granville Street and Kingsett Capital’s acquisition of 700 & 750 West Pender Street. Even with these notable deals, large spaces continue to come onto the market, including the recent availability of 160,000 square feet at Telus Garden, 510 West Georgia Street. Compared nationally, Vancouver is still performing better than most, with vacancy well below the Canadian average of 13.1%.
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