Commercial real estate in Lower Mainland posted a record-high sales in 2015, according to latest data from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver.
The Vancouver Sun reported that commercial real estate sales last year amounted to $8.389 billion, up by 33.7 percent from 2014's $6.273 billion. According to REBGV, the strong performance of the CRE market in 2015 is driven by growth in office and retail space, as well as multi-family homes. REBGV president Darcy McLeod said, "Overall, these numbers reflect B.C.'s solid economy and our own residential real estate market's growth."
Sales from office and retail spaces grew 6.6 percent in 2015 to 807 units worth $2.364 billion from 757 a year earlier amounting to $1.678 billion. Meanwhile, sales from multi-family properties rose 27.1 percent to 136 units worth $1.210 billion from 107 in 2014 amounting to $631 million.
Research from Altus Data also revealed that commercial real estate deals in Greater Vancouver broke records in 2015, RENX.ca reported, and there is no sign of slowing down in the commercial real estate of Greater Vancouver.
"Should all things remain the same, I see continued growth in terms of deal counts and dollar volume invested into the local real estate market," said Paul Richter, research director at Altus Data Solutions Canada.
As previously discussed here on Realty Today, prices of commercial real estates in the United States have increased rapidly in the past years to sky-high levels. And while analysts predict a flat growth, a recent report has revealed that the country's commercial real estate value has declined for the first time since 2011. According to Ten-X Commercial Real Estate Nowcast via PRNewswire, there are 26 basis points drop in commercial valuations in February compared to the previous month. The all-sector plunge is largely attributed to the fall in hotel and office monthly prices.