Real estate struggles likely to continue into new year: Morguard

CALGARY (660 NEWS) – Calgary real estate will be seeing minor changes in the coming year, says real estate firm Morguard.

Keith Reading with Morgaurd said those changes and struggles seen in 2019 will likely continue into 2020.
“I hate to say it, but it’s probably going to be more of the same. You’ve got record-high vacancy in office so it’s going to be tough.”

However, Reading said that Calgary is resilient and is hopeful to see the tides change regarding office space vacancy.

“The good news is that the owners in Calgary are (…) patient. They’re willing to wait for demand to improve. I don’t see it as particularly disastrous, but certainly, the market would really like to see some better demand.”
In other real estate markets, positive changes were reported. Reading said they saw an increase in demand of industrial at the beginning of the year.
This was mostly due to companies needing big bay spaces for fulfillment centres in order to deliver retail purchases to the customer.

He said that this is all good news for the industrial market.

“Certainly, investors have taken notice. Anytime an industrial property is put on the market for sale, generally, there is healthy demand and some pretty strong pricing.”

Retail, however, is not the healthiest form of real estate in Calgary. Reading said that the loss of major groups like Target and Sears over the last couple of years hasn’t helped.

Despite that, Reading is hopeful and said that retail is one of the most resilient markets.

“With Calgary, it’s got some of the higher income levels in the country. Retail has held up really quite well in Calgary. I think the picture will be similar going forward.”
“Retailers, both domestic and international will continue to look to Calgary to add to their footprint.”