The industrial team at Avison Young offers a 4 page run-down (3 pages of information, 1 page of advertisement) on Edmonton’s industrial activity in 2007, and some inclination as to where they see it going this year. Like most forecasts for 2008, there is uncertainty how some issues are going to play out in Alberta (US sub-prime, royalty reviews, etc.) but generally they are predicting a stable, growing industrial sector. Here are some highlights:
- Vacancy dropped from an already low 1.22% down to 1.12%; likely to remain between 1-1.5% this year.
- 2007 saw just over 1.8 million square feet of new construction absorbed: about 2.23% of Edmonton’s 80.6 million square foot universe.
- Total of 3.2 million square feet absorbed in 2007
- Rental rates have been on the rise, and will continue to do so although we are experiencing some tenant “pushback”.
- Land prices and availability expected to “crest” through the first half of 2008 due to less speculation.
The report also gives a brief introduction to the emerging trend of green building design and LEED (Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design) certification in Canada.
Full report available for download industrial-market-report-winter-2007-avison-young
