The full market impact of COVID-19 still remains to be seen
Activity involving Vancouver’s commercial assets has lost pace for the third straight year, according to the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
A total of 1,538 commercial sales transpired in 2019, representing a 32.8% decline from 2018 and a 41.5% drop from 2017. This was significantly lower than the current annual record of 2,896 sales in 2016.
Dollar value had a more precipitous 56.7% year-over-year drop in 2019, ending up at $6.86 billion. This was less than half the $16.6 billion peak reached in 2017, CBC.ca reported.
Last year saw 400 commercial land transactions (down by 54% annually) with a dollar value of $3.24 billion (down by 61%). Multi-family land had a 50% shrinkage in sales, while industrial land went relatively unscathed with just a 6% drop.
The same time frame had 624 sales of office and retail assets (down by 24%) with a total value of $1.6 billion (significantly down by 65.8%).
However, while these trends mirrored those seen in the struggling housing market, the REBGV said that it’s too early to predict the extent of the COVID-19 pandemic’s effect on the commercial sector.
