The Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV) reports fewer commercial real estate sales and lower transaction dollar value in 2018 compared to recent record-breaking years.
But unlike Altus Group’s similar statistics report released this month, REBGV isn’t hesitating to call the statistics a result of decline in demand, rather than just a case of less availability.
“Demand in the Lower Mainland’s commercial real estate market changed pace in 2018,” said Ashley Smith, REBGV president. “While dollar volumes remained up near the highs we’ve experienced in recent years, we’ve seen reduced demand in line with slower economic growth and rising interest rates.”
While dollar volumes only decreased 5.2 per cent from 2017 – from 16.4 billion to $15.6 billion in in 2018 – sales decreased 13.6 per cent.
Land sales posted the largest decrease, down 20 per cent from 1,076 land sales in 2017 to 861 in 2018. Dollar volume also declined a more modest eight per cent, from $9 billion in 2017 to $8.2 billion in 2018. Surrey land sales represented the largest amount of sales in a single municipality, for both 2017 and 2018, at 266 deals and 202, respectively.
Multi-family recorded the second-largest decline, down nearly 16 per cent year-over-year. Just over 100 sales were recorded for all of 2018, nearly half of which were Vancouver site sales.
Office and retail sales declined just over 9.2 per cent, from 898 sales in 2017 to 815 in 2018. Dollar volumes however remained pretty consistent, decline a scant 2.8 per cent year-over-year. Richmond, Surrey and Vancouver office and retail sales accounted for 57 per cent of all sale in 2018.
Industrial transactions were down 7.7 per cent year-over-year but increased 11.2 per cent from 2017, from $1.29 billion to $1.44 billion. Only six industrial sales took place in Surrey, but accounted for the single-highest transaction value for a single municipality at $324 million.
