Urban Team

The office market in Canada is not one story. It is three.

Class AAA is absorbing. Suburban is surviving. Class C commodity is losing — and the gap between them is wider than it has been in a decade.

The action you should take depends entirely on which category you are in. Swipe through and find yours.

The numbers are clear. Canadian industrial real estate is at an inflection point.

After 12 consecutive quarters of rising vacancy, it has plateaued at 5.2 percent nationally. Supply is tapering as developers pulled back. And demand for large-format logistics space is back hard — led by the GTA and Vancouver.

When vacancy stops rising and supply drops, rents follow. That is not a prediction. That is how the cycle works. And we are at that point right now.

The one risk to name honestly: cross-border trade exposure and CUSMA renegotiation create real uncertainty for US-export-dependent tenants. Build that into your underwriting. For domestic logistics and distribution? The fundamentals are clean.

Investors waiting for more confirmation — this is your confirmation.

Six numbers. The full picture of Canada's office recovery.

$485 million invested in Toronto office in Q1 2026. Up 103 percent year on year.

Class AAA and Class A assets are the winners — demand rising, vacancy falling, foreign capital competing for prime assets. If you own these or can access them, you are in exactly the right place.

Class C commodity office is the other story. High vacancy, declining rents, no clear leasing recovery coming. The most honest answer for most of these assets is a conversion assessment — and Calgary has already proved the model works.

The recovery is real. But it is selective. The gap between quality and commodity office is wider than it has been in 20 years.

Know which side of that gap you are on.

Greater Vancouver industrial space still matters.

Early-spring market signals continue to favor well-located, functional assets, especially in industrial corridors across Vancouver, Surrey, and Langley. If you are evaluating a purchase, lease, or repositioning strategy, the details can change the return quickly. 📍

Connect with Urban Team for a data-driven local update.

📞 778-707-8100 | ✉️ [email protected] | https://urbanteam.com

Industrial properties with excess land are among the most underestimated assignments in commercial appraisal.

When a site includes more land than is needed to support the existing improvements, that excess portion must be valued separately — it cannot simply be absorbed into the overall value conclusion. That triggers a distinct scope of work that most lenders and lawyers do not factor into their turnaround expectations.

The additional research typically includes comparable land sales, zoning and OCP analysis, subdivision feasibility, servicing cost review, and a highest and best use assessment of the excess parcel on its own terms. Is it developable? Does a ready market exist for it in its current configuration? The answers directly affect the final value — and they are not always easy to find.

The challenge is compounded in certain Fraser Valley submarkets where vacant land sale data is sparse. When comparable evidence is limited, the appraiser has to bracket with older sales, adjust for time and location, and document the reasoning in a way that holds up under lender or legal review.

We have completed assignments where the excess land analysis required as much time as the improved site portion. That is not unusual — it is the nature of the work. Clients who understand the scope upfront tend to have much smoother financing and legal processes.

For properties with excess land, Urban Team discusses scope and timeline before work begins. Transparent pricing, no surprises.

📞 778-707-8100 | ✉️ [email protected] | 🌐 urbanteam.com

Office listings in Greater Vancouver and Fraser Valley are taking longer to sell and lease — and the reasons go beyond pricing alone.

The structural shift to hybrid work has meaningfully reduced demand for mid-market office space. Tenants who are moving are largely "trading up" to Class A product, leaving Class B and C inventory to sit longer. Buyer activity has slowed as interest rates maintain pressure on acquisition economics. And the gap between seller expectations and market reality has created a backlog of listings that simply aren't transacting at asking.

At Urban Team, we're also tracking a more nuanced factor that surfaces repeatedly in office transactions: unpermitted tenant improvements.

In Greater Vancouver's aging office strata inventory, it's common for improvements made by previous occupants to lack building permits. This includes partition walls, electrical upgrades, kitchenette additions, and HVAC modifications. These improvements often look fine and function correctly — but they create significant friction in deals.

Lenders flag unpermitted work during appraisal. Financing conditions become more complex. Buyers may seek price reductions to account for remediation costs or permit risk. If disclosure doesn't happen upfront, deals can fall apart at the condition stage.

Our advisory approach:
- Identify potential unpermitted improvements before listing
- Disclose clearly in marketing materials
- Price the asset to reflect known permit risk or remediation cost
- Help buyers understand remediation pathways so they can underwrite accurately

The office market is in transition. Deals still get done — but they require more rigorous preparation and honest positioning from the outset.

If you're considering selling, leasing, or acquiring office space in the Lower Mainland or Fraser Valley, we're available for a confidential consultation.

📞 778-707-8100
📧 [email protected]
🌐 www.urbanteam.com

Vancouver's office market is showing extended days on market across a wide range of listings — and the causes are structural, not cyclical.

Hybrid work has become permanent. Tenants are contracting their footprint or upgrading to Class A, vacating older Class B and C inventory. Interest rates have cooled buyer activity. And the gap between seller expectations and market reality has widened significantly over the past 18 months.

That's the macro picture. But something more transactional keeps surfacing in due diligence here in the Lower Mainland and Fraser Valley: unpermitted tenant improvements.

Older office strata units often have modifications made without permits — partition walls, server room buildouts, additional electrical circuits, modified mechanical. The space looks functional. Often it is. But when a lender's appraiser or a buyer's inspector flags it, the deal dynamic changes fast.

Financing conditions get added. Lenders decline to advance on as-improved value. Buyers seek price adjustments they weren't expecting. If it wasn't disclosed upfront, trust erodes.

What works: proactive disclosure in the listing, an honest pricing conversation that accounts for remediation cost, and — where applicable — an engineer's assessment clarifying what's structural versus cosmetic. Buyers who understand the risk at the outset can price it in. Buyers who discover it mid-condition period react very differently.

The office market is navigating a real transition. The deals that close cleanly are the ones where both sides go in with accurate information.

Happy to discuss if you're working through an office deal with these considerations.

📞 778-707-8100
📧 [email protected]