Vancouver office vacancy rose to 10.2 percent on about 350,000 square feet of negative net absorption, which Colliers attributes to new listings in Burnaby and Richmond and the completions of District 104 in Surrey and Forma in False Creek Flats.
Halifax recorded the lowest rate at 7.6 percent, down from 8.3 percent in the second quarter and 8.8 percent a year earlier.
Colliers links the industrial picture to the federal Defence Industrial Strategy and the Building Canada Strong initiative, which the firm says together represent over $1tn in planned public and private investment.
Adam Jacobs, head of research for Colliers Canada, said Canada’s industrial economy appears to be on the cusp of a shift, with commercial real estate central to it.
Jacobs said national supply chains have relied on international suppliers and new investment in defence and infrastructure is creating direct real estate requirements.