Montreal National Office Market Report
Transcription
Montreal National Office Market Report
RESEARCH 2015 REAL ESTATE NATIONAL OFFICE MARKET REPORT Montreal – Fall/Winter MONTREAL HIGHLIGHTS ◆◆ Availability rate at 15.5% in Downtown Core ◆◆ Tenant leverage increasing, especially in older Class “A” buildings ◆◆ Many tenants exploiting the workplace as strategic tool Overall Office Vacancy Rates Across Canada Rise to 7.6% Economic challenges in Europe and Asia, coupled with the collapse of oil prices and the ongoing decline in the value of the Canadian dollar versus its U.S. counterpart have continued to exert a considerable impact on Canada’s economy. A federal election campaign has added even more uncertainty to the mix. The effects of these circumstances are being felt in a wide variety of ways across the country. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Alberta’s economy will see the greatest reversal of fortunes in 2015. As the heartland of the oil and gas industry, Alberta is expected to end the year with negative growth. Indeed, growth in Calgary is predicted to drop by 0.5%, after positive growth of 5.1% in the previous year. Conversely, Vancouver's economy is forecast to expand by 3.4% in 2015 and increase by a further 3.5% in 2016. Toronto is expected to benefit from growth in the manufacturing sector and its GDP is expected to increase by 2.6%. Montreal’s economy is also forecast to grow by 2.1%, well ahead of the 1.7% growth it experienced in 2014. In general, office vacancy rates in most of Canada’s largest cities reflect these economic circumstances. In Calgary, for example, the combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rate in office buildings has jumped from 4.4% to 10.0% over the past twelve months. Most of the country’s other major cities have seen more modest shifts in combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancies. Overall, the national vacancy rate currently stands at 7.6%, up from 6.6% six months ago. It should also be noted that the inventory of downtown office space across the country has also expanded considerably. Over 5.3 million square feet has been added over the past two years, and there are major projects underway in most cities that will further augment this expansion. Most of the new office developments being delivered to the market are premium-quality, LEED-certified buildings. Tenant demand for these spaces remains high. As a result, sublet availability is increasing as the new towers are occupied. National Vacancy / Canada Class “A” & “B” Office Area Q2 2012 Q2 2013 Q2 2014 Q2 2015 4.49% 4.91% 6.02% 7.55% Class “A” Vacancy Rates Q4 2013 Q2 2014 Q4 2014 Q2 2015 Halifax 8.4% 15.9% 12.9% 16.8% Montreal 7.0% 8.8% 9.2% 9.0% Ottawa 5.3% 6.8% 5.8% 6.2% Toronto 6.1% 4.4% 4.8% 4.7% Winnipeg 3.5% 5.8% 6.7% 7.5% Edmonton 7.8% 7.7% 7.3% 7.5% Calgary 2.9% 2.8% 4.7% 8.2% Vancouver 5.1% 5.0% 5.4% 5.8% Q4 2013 Q2 2014 Q4 2014 Q2 2015 Class “B” Vacancy Rates Halifax 6.0% 6.9% 9.1% 7.5% Montreal 6.6% 7.2% 8.1% 9.0% Ottawa 6.3% 6.4% 7.7% 9.1% Toronto 5.7% 4.4% 4.6% 4.6% Winnipeg 7.8% 10.2% 10.8% 11.3% Edmonton 10.2% 8.9% 11.4% 13.4% Calgary 8.2% 9.3% 11.1% 15.8% Vancouver 3.9% 5.1% 6.8% 6.7% Q2 2014 Q4 2014 Q2 2015 Class “A” and “B” Combined Vacancy Rates Q4 2013 Halifax 6.7% 9.9% 10.3% 10.6% Montreal 6.8% 8.0% 8.6% 9.0% Ottawa 5.7% 6.6% 6.6% 7.4% Toronto 6.0% 4.4% 4.8% 4.6% Winnipeg 5.7% 8.2% 8.8% 9.5% Edmonton 8.4% 8.0% 8.3% 9.0% Calgary 4.2% 4.4% 6.2% 10.0% Vancouver 5.1% 5.9% 5.9% 6.1% Office Space Distribution in Canada’s Major Cities Class “A” & “B” Combined Q2 2015 2 Total Office Area (sq. ft.) Q2 2015 Total Office Area (sq. ft.) Toronto 29.66% 64,119,654 Ottawa 7.79% 16,849,887 Montreal 22.05% 47,680,022 Edmonton 6.85% 14,812,015 Calgary 18.01% 38,929,990 Winnipeg 3.57% 7,717,681 Vancouver 9.76% 21,101,421 Halifax 2.31% 4,985,114 Availability rates continue to rise in Downtown Montreal Economic Activity Market Overview Despite the economic challenges being faced in many areas of the country, there’s a buoyant mood in the Greater Montreal Area. Major infrastructure work—including the new Champlain Bridge, and a long overdue revamping of the Turcot Interchange—is now underway, and there is a sense that the city is finally asserting its economic advantages. U.S. firms are increasingly demonstrating interest in the GMA, the government is extending its incentive programs for the burgeoning multimedia sector, and the city’s upcoming 375th anniversary is generating a number of initiatives. Supply continues to outstrip demand in Montreal’s downtown office market, which is good news for tenants. The combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rate is now up to 9.0%, and the availability rate—which also takes into account the office space that may currently be occupied but is nevertheless available for lease or sublet—has risen much higher, and now stands at 15.5%. The spike in the availability rate has been generated by a number of factors. First, approximately 1.4 million square feet of new office space has been recently added to the market, with more to come. Second, the redevelopment of what were once industrial properties to address the space demands of tenants seeking brick and beam spaces has had an impact. Finally, many tenants have developed occupancy strategies to reduce the amount of space that they lease. In Downtown Montreal, development in all real estate sectors— corporate, retail and residential—continues to take place. Further, areas on the periphery of the downtown core, from Griffintown and the Atwater Market neighbourhood to the Jean Talon and Mile End districts, are attracting a good deal of developer interest. The optimism is supported by a Conference Board of Canada report issued at the end of September. Economic growth in Montreal is expected to exceed the national average in 2015, with real GDP growth of 2.1%, up from 1.7% in the previous year. The outlook for 2016 is even brighter, with real GDP growth expected to come in at 2.3%. The greatest expansion will be seen in the services and manufacturing sectors, including finance, insurance and real estate. While the corporate real estate market is always dynamic— changes are driven by business expansions or downsizings, lease renewals or terminations, acquisitions or closings— high availability rates tend to give the market an added spark. Landlords have greater motivation to secure transactions with solid tenants, and those landlords who have the greatest amount of vacant space have the greatest motivation. 9.2 Montreal’s Downtown District Vacancy Rates, Office Space 8.8 9.0 8.6 8.0 8 6.7 6.2 8.1 7.0 6.8 7.2 6.6 6 5.8 4 Q2 13 Total office area (sq.ft.) – 47,680,022 Q4 13 Q2 14 Class “A” Class “B” Q4 14 Q2 15 Class “A” and “B” combined 3 Availability rates continue to rise in Downtown Montreal As a result, the opportunities for tenants to secure advantageous lease transactions are more plentiful than they have been in a number of years, though it must be noted that the best deals will be found on a building-by-building basis. Class “A” and Class “B” Vacancy Rates Continue to Increase For this market study, we track an inventory of approximately 47.7 million square feet of Class “A” and Class “B” office space in Downtown Montreal. Montreal’s corporate real estate market is the second-largest in Canada, behind only Toronto. Over the first half of 2015, combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates continued to edge upwards, a trend that has been in evidence since the global economic meltdown in 2009, prior to which vacancy rates had fallen to a low of 4.9%. Over the last twelve months, vacancy rates in Class “A” and Class “B” office buildings in Downtown Montreal have risen from 8.0% to 9.0%. At the present time, just over 4.3 million square feet of Class “A” and Class “B” space is vacant. The rise in the overall vacancy rate is partly attributable to the increase in the available inventory in Downtown Montreal. Since the beginning of 2014, almost 1.5 million square feet has been brought to the Class “A” office space market, which has begun to alter its dynamic. Had this space not been delivered, vacancy rates would be in the 6% range. The inventory of Class “A” office space in Downtown Montreal currently totals nearly 26.6 million square feet, which is distributed among 57 buildings. Through the first six months of 2015, the vacancy rate declined slightly, from 9.2% to 9.0%. Currently approximately 2.2 million square feet is vacant. As has been the case for the past couple of years, even though vacancy and availability rates are high, a tenant’s best leasing opportunities in the downtown area will be found on a buildingby-building basis. This is essentially because much of the office space that is available—particularly larger blocks of space—is on the sublease market. As new developments continue to be built and come online, we expect that more sublease space will become available, as many major tenants are taking the opportunity to relocate in to the new towers, leaving behind space in their older Class “A” offices. 4 In Downtown Montreal’s Class “B” sector, we track 161 office buildings, which together offer a total of 23 million square feet of space. Over the last half of 2014, vacancy rates rose from 7.2% to 8.1%, and since that time have risen further, to 9.0%. Just over 2 million square feet is currently available for lease or sublet. Some of the vacancy rate increase in the Class “B” sector is also due to tenants seizing the opportunity to upgrade their office spaces. Downtown Corporate Corridors Montreal’s downtown corporate corridors have seen a mixed bag of leasing activity over the past twelve months, though vacancy rates have generally risen. The René-Lévesque Boulevard corridor has the greatest amount of office space in the city, with nearly 11 million square feet. Over the past six months, the Class “A” vacancy rate fell slightly from 14.4% to 13.3%. The vacancy rate was at a decade-long low of 3.7% at the end of 2007, but has climbed steadily since. In the Quartier International, the Class “A” vacancy rate has also risen steadily over the past few years. It reached a low of 2.4% in mid-2008; over the past twelve months it has increased from 5.8% to 7.9%. On De Maisonneuve Boulevard, the Class “A” vacancy rate in mid‑2014 was 8.0%, and has since jumped to 12%. Vacancies in this corridor were at their lowest level just prior to the global recession, at 4.0% in Q2 2008. Along the McGill College corridor, Class “A” vacancy rates have fluctuated significantly over the past few years, and were at a low of 8.1% two years ago. Since that time they have climbed to 17.8%, largely due to a spike in vacancy at 1981 McGill College Avenue. The Sherbrooke Street corridor Class “A” vacancy rate has been fairly steady over the past twelve months, rising only from 12.0% to 12.3%, and vacancy rate fluctuations have also been modest in the Westmount area, where Class “A” vacancies have moved from 13.2% to 14.9% over the past year. Finally, in the Cité du Multimédia, the Class “A” vacancy rate fell over the last twelve months from 15% to 10.4%. Old Montreal vacancy rates have increased from 6.5% to 7.7% over the same period. Availability rates continue to rise in Downtown Montreal We expect a certain degree of flux in the months ahead as more new developments are delivered to the market and some major tenants relocate. Deloitte’s move into its new headquarters in the Cadillac Fairview project, for example, will free up close to 200,000 square feet at 1 Place Ville Marie. Office Development Update The complexion of Montreal’s downtown area continues to be transformed by the new developments that have been delivered to the market or are under construction. The office development that is taking place is essentially the first the downtown area has seen since the completion of the Caisse de Dépôt and E-Commerce Place buildings in 2002-2003. ◆◆ ◆◆ Ivanhoé Cambridge and Manulife’s joint venture for a new office tower development at 900 De Maisonneuve West. Maison Manuvie will be a 27-storey, 486,500-square-foot tower. Approximately 478,000 square feet will be committed to office space, and 8,500 square feet to retail space. ◆◆ A planned building extension at 444 De Maisonneuve Boulevard West for Desjardins that will address its needs for back office space. Two other major redevelopment projects are slated to take place in the coming years. They include: New Projects include: ◆◆ ◆◆ Kevric’s Tour Aimia in the Quartier International. The mixed office/condo tower is now complete; approximately 100,000 square feet of office space is available for leasing. ◆◆ The redevelopment of the Standard Life building at 1245 Sherbrooke St. West, resulting from the acquisition of Standard Life by Manulife. ◆◆ The redevelopment of Maison Alcan at 1188 Sherbrooke St. West, following Rio Tinto’s sale of the building and relocation into the Deloitte Tower. Other projects are also being discussed, including: Cadillac Fairview Corporation’s 26-storey, 500,000-squarefoot Deloitte Tower, which is located between Windsor Station and the Bell Centre. Aside from Deloitte, Rio Tinto will also be relocating in the tower. This development is the first LEED Platinum project in the city. Just over 150,000 square feet is currently available. Broccolini’s L’Avenue at 1275 l’avenue des Canadiens, a 50-storey, 590,000-square-foot mixed-use development, should be completed by mid-2017. It has 140,000 square feet of office space on its lower floors. ◆◆ Development of I’Îlot Voyageur, where the Quebec government is currently examining its options. ◆◆ A two-phase office tower project at Westcliff’s Place de la Cité internationale in Square Victoria. ◆◆ An office and retail tower project of up to 1.2 million square feet led by Canderel and the Fonds de solidarité FTQ in the Quartier des Spectacles just east of the downtown core. ◆◆ A mixed-use development led by Magil Laurentien on University and St-Jacques. Vacancy Rates in Downtown Montreal Corridors, Office Space Class “A” and “B” Combined 30% 25% 13.6 15.0 12.6 10.4 6.9 6.0 6.5 6.6 7.7 5.3 5.4 13.7 14.3 13.2 12.4 14.9 Sherbrooke St. 4.4 4.8 5.8 7.4 7.9 12.1 11.7 12.0 11.8 12.3 René-Lévesque Blvd. 8.8 10.4 12.0 11.1 11.2 12.3 14.4 13.3 5% 8.1 10% 14.5 13.0 15% 17.6 18.3 17.8 20% 0% McGill College Ave. Q2 13 De Maisonneuve Blvd. Q4 13 Q2 14 Quartier International Q4 14 Westmount Old Montreal Cité Multimédia Q2 15 5 Availability rates continue to rise in Downtown Montreal Outside the downtown core, another significant redevelopment is the 320,000-square-foot 7250 Mile End project. To date, it has 85% leased. In Griffintown, Devimco is undertaking a four-phase mega project, which will bring substantial new commercial, retail and condo space to the market. Additionally, the city’s Pôle Maisonneuve initiative seeks to bring new activity to the area around the Parc olympique. Helping this initiative is the recent announcement that Olympic Stadium will finally have a tenant—for the first time since its completion. The Desjardins Group has signed an agreement with the Régie des installations olympiques to move in its management centre for bank-card operations. Between 1,000 and 1,800 employees could potentially occupy the large space inside the tower. Finally, the Gare-Hôtel-Viger project, a $250 million redevelopment, intends to repurpose the historic Gare-HôtelViger in Old Montreal into commercial and office spaces. Market Trends: Leveraging the Workplace Increasingly, tenants making the decision to relocate their offices are treating their real estate decisions as opportunities to drive organizational change. What organizational change means for any particular business can be multi-faceted and complex. The decision to relocate is often tied initially to cost, and many organizations use a relocation to reduce the amount of office space they use. Whereas industry benchmarks may have once considered 200-250 square feet per person as the rule, 100‑150 square feet per person is now not unusual. Attracting and retaining a qualified workforce is an ongoing challenge for many businesses, as the costs of recruiting and training skilled people can be considerable. In response to this need, we are seeing many tenants designing their workplaces to make them more appealing to employees. This may require locating their offices close to where the workforce resides, or ensuring that access to public transport and ample parking at reasonable cost are available. On-site amenities that were largely unheard of a decade ago—from daycare and exercise facilities to bicycle storage areas and outdoor terraces —are also becoming increasingly sought after. And the workplace environment itself must reflect the kind of culture the company is trying to encourage. Does it promote collaboration, innovation, and transparency? Is it, in short, a great place to work? The challenge is to develop a work environment that is attractive and efficient, that supports the organization’s business case, and that ultimately makes it more competitive. A thoroughly researched, articulated and executed real estate strategy can help ensure that this challenge is met. Outlook With space availability remaining high, tenants currently have a great deal of negotiating leverage. Some of the best opportunities can be found on a building-by-building basis, as the sublet market has been expanding and will likely continue to grow as the new developments under construction are delivered and the larger tenants moving into these towers vacate their old premises. While less space generally translates into lower costs, it is also true that the compression can only be taken so far. Other factors supporting an occupancy strategy also come into play. Many landlords are increasingly motivated to secure solid, long‑term tenants, and are hence open to negotiating competitive leasing transactions. Larger tenants should undertake a needs analysis three to five years before lease expiry, while tenants requiring smaller blocks of space will be best served by reviewing their occupancy strategies at least three years in advance. Branding is chief among these. Broadly understood, branding can be seen as defining and promoting the company’s essential identity and values. And moving into new premises is the perfect opportunity to renew or support a brand. Montreal’s downtown office market is in a state of flux, and more changes will occur as new developments are delivered and as certain major tenants in the city who are currently looking at market opportunities make their tenancy decisions. To do so, a number of issues need to be weighed. Does the office space reflect the company’s identity? Is an older brick-and-beam building more suitable than a state-of-the-art tower? Are the premises close to the company’s primary customer base? Over the next few years we anticipate that availability rates should drop as the office space being built or redeveloped is absorbed and the local economy gains further momentum. 6 The National Market at a Glance the-art tower space remains strong. Redeveloped space in older, brick-and-beam buildings, designed for the creative class, is in great demand as well, though the supply is more limited. Over the past six months, office vacancy rates in most of Canada’s major cities have increased, though in some cases the rise was marginal. Concurrently, the total built inventory of Class “A” and Class “B” space has increased by approximately 1 million square feet and there are a number of large-scale development projects underway across most of the country. Winnipeg’s combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates also increased in the first half of 2015, from 8.8% to 9.5% have steadied at 8.8%. The combined Class “A” and Class “B” inventory of office space has increased by approximately 460,000 square feet over the past 18 months, and approximately 735,000 square feet is available for lease or sublet. In Halifax, the combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rate reached 10.6% at mid-year, up from 10.3% at the end of 2014. Just over 525,000 square feet of office space is available for lease or sublet. Over the past 18 months, the downtown office inventory has increased by over 250,000 square feet. Calgary’s office space real estate market has been hardest hit by the global collapse in oil prices. Only a few years ago occupancy rates in the city’s downtown area were approaching 100% and a number of new developments were launched. Since that time, however, the combined Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rate has risen to 10%, one of the highest in the country. Nearly 4 million square feet is vacant at the present time, which includes 2.5 million square feet in the Class “A” category. Quebec City’s combined vacancy rate in the downtown area stands at 6.3%. In the Class “A” submarket, the vacancy rate is 9.4% and approximately 220,500 square feet of office space is available for lease or sublet. The Class “B” vacancy rate currently stands at 4.8%. In Ottawa, downtown Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates rose from 6.6% to 7.4% over the past six months. There has been an uptick in activity in Kanata over the past year as the high-tech industry regains a measure of strength. Tenant negotiating leverage should be strong through the rest of the year as new office developments are delivered. Edmonton’s combined vacancy rates held relatively steady over the first half of 2015, and are currently at 7.5%. Approximately 1.3 million square feet of office space is available in the downtown district, the majority of which is Class “A” space. Over 1 million square feet of office space is currently under construction. Toronto continues to be one of the most active office markets in the country, and vacancy rates in the downtown area are lower than in any other major city in the country. Both Class “A” and Class “B” vacancy rates are currently in the 4.7% range, despite the abundance of new space that has been delivered to the market over the past few years. Tenant demand for this state-of- In Vancouver, just under 500,000 square feet of Class “A” office space has recently come onto the downtown market, and another 1 million square feet is slated for development. As a result, vacancy rates are beginning to creep higher, with the combined Class “A” and Class “B” rate moving from 5.9% to 6.1% through the first two quarters of 2015. Vacancy rates will likely continue to climb as more new space is delivered, though tenant demand for the new space seems strong. Downtown District Vacancy Rates Comparison, Office Space Class “A” and “B” Combined 12 % 10 % 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% Q2 11 Q2 12 Q2 13 Q2 15 Q2 14 Total Office Area (sq. ft.) Q2 15 Halifax 4,985,114 Quebec City 7,775,394 Montreal 47,680,022 Ottawa 16,849,887 Toronto 64,119,654 Winnipeg 7,717,681 Calgary 38,929,990 Edmonton 14,812,015 Vancouver 21,101,421 7 About Newmark Knight Frank Devencore As part of Newmark Grubb Knight Frank, one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms, Newmark Knight Frank Devencore is Canada's largest corporate real estate advisor and brokerage, exclusively representing corporate, industrial and retail space users. With offices across the country, Newmark Knight Frank Devencore offers its global clientele comprehensive services that are individually designed to ensure executive real estate decisions are supported by effective strategies and professional execution. To learn more about our capabilities, please visit www.devencorenkf.com. About Newmark Grubb Knight Frank Newmark Grubb Knight Frank is one of the world's leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Together with London‑based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NGKF's 12,800 professionals operate from more than 370 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents. MONTREAL OFFICE 800 René‑Lévesque Blvd. West Suite 900 Montreal, Quebec H3B 1X9 Canada RESEARCH CONTACTS With roots dating back to 1929, NGKF's strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. 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