Commercial real estate sales have reached a five-year high in the Lower Mainland, posting record increases in sales volume in every sector except for multi-family.
Sales totaled $12.99 billion in 2016, up 47.4 per cent from 2015. Development land sales saw the most dramatic surge in sales, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
“We saw steady activity across the commercial real estate market in 2016,” said Dan Morrison, president of REBGV, in a release. “It’s no surprise that land sales had the largest increase last year given the supply shortage we’re experiencing in our residential and commercial markets today.”
There were 1,177 commercial land sales in 2016, up 41 per cent from 835 sales in 2015. The 2016 sales totaled $7.20 billion, up 81.3 per cent from $3.97 billion the previous year. Three hundred and eighty-seven land sales occurred in Surrey in 2016 – the most of any municipality, followed by 226 in Vancouver. Vancouver recorded the highest dollar value of sales at $3.24 billion.
Office and retail sales in 2016 increased 12.8 per cent, from 814 sales in 2015 to 918 in 2016. Dollar values were up 46.9 per cent year-over-year, from $2.47 billion in 2015 to $3.62 billion in 2016.
Industrial sales posted the slightest increase of 9.9 per cent over the 557 sales in 2015, bring the total number of sales in 2016 to 612. Dollar value increased 3.4 per cent to $1.06 billion in 2016 from $1.03 billion in 2015. One hundred and seventy-seven industrial transactions took place in Surrey, with the second-most transactions occurring in Richmond.
Multi-family was the only sector that saw a decrease in both sales and dollar volume. There were 141 sales in 2016, down 4.1 per cent from 147 sales in 2015. Sales totaled $1.1 billion in 2016, down from $1.34 billion year-over-year.
The number of total commercial transactions in 2016 hit 2,848, a 21 per cent increase over the 2,353 sales in 2015 and 29.7 per cent above the five-year sales average.
To view the entire REBGV 2016 Q4 commercial real estate statistics package, click here.
