Real Strategy Market Outlook: Q4 2018

Ottawa’s office market continued to surge throughout 2018 as the Federal Government and Ottawa’s technology sector maintained their strong appetite for quality office space.

Greater Ottawa’s overall office availability fell from 12.1% in Q4 2017 to 9.6% at end of 2018, a remarkable change in just 12 months. Especially interesting is that occupancy in Ottawa’s older downtown properties have begun to bounce back as they’ve been renovated and the desirability of a downtown address continues to drive local HR strategies.

Downtown Class C Availability fell most sharply from 24.9% at the end of 2017 to end the year at 19.6%. This marks the first time since 2014 that Class C space downtown has fallen below 20% availability. Class A Availability remained relatively flat at 5.2%, while Class B Availability dropped from 16.1% as of Q4 2017, to close 2018 at 11.1%. Real Strategy is predicting that 2019 will continue the trend of decreasing availability with Class B and C buildings likely to stabilize at an availability rate of close to 10%.

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