- What Industrial rents in Vancouver have dropped 5.6% over the past year
- Why Net absorption year over year was negative-995,000 sq ft
- What next 7.3m sq ft of industrial space is under construction in the city
Asking rents for Vancouver industrial property dropped 5.6% over the course of 2024, Colliers said in its Q4 Industrial Market Report.
The drop comes as year-over-year vacancy rates increased 160 bps to 3.1% in the final quarter of the year, with availability rates at 4.1%.
Asking rents dipped to $20.24/sq ft as the average cost of freestanding sales reached $527/sq ft.
Net absorption for the quarter did outpace Q3 by nearly 450,000 sq feet, with 832,000 sq ft being absorbed. But on an annual basis, absorption was down nearly 1m sq ft.
Increasing availability began in 2022 and flatlined near the end of 2024. Against this backdrop, lease listings are spending more time on the market before being sold than in previous years, Colliers said, noting that some properties larger than 200,000 sq ft remained on the market for more than two years.
Meanwhile, development continues. Surrey is leading the way with 1.9m sq ft of supply under construction. Burnaby came in second with 1.4m sq ft followed by Vancouver at just over 1m sq ft.
In total, 7.3m sq ft of industrial space is under construction in metropolitan Vancouver, with 900,000 sq ft delivered in Q4.
On the deal front, only one transaction broke the $15m mark: FWP Real Estate’s purchase of a property on 199A Street in Langley for $34m.
Colliers described the mood in 2024 as being “shaped by a mix of cautious optimism and monetary uncertainty,” noting that dealflow “remained slow.”
