2022 Saw Office Space Vacancies Jump Across N.B.’s Largest Cities
MONCTON – New Brunswick’s three biggest cities wrapped up 2022 with an unprecedented glut of vacant office space, according to a study from Turner Drake & Partners Ltd.
The report, released Jan. 3, said that the vacancy rates of office space in Moncton, Fredericton, and Saint John have risen, year-over-year, from December 2021 to December 2022.
Saint John clinched first place for the highest office vacancy rate, which jumped from 18.46 percent in December 2021 to 19.53 percent in 2022.
This vacancy spike coincided with a 1.38 percent increase in the total amount of rentable office space since December 2021.
Moncton’s office vacancy edged up to 16.59 percent in December 2022, from 16.58 percent in the same year of 2021 – this coincided with a 2.03-per-cent increase in the total amount of rentable space in Greater Moncton since 2021.
Fredericton’s office vacancy rate jumped 2.71 percent from December 2021, rising to 18.38 percent from 15.67 percent. This increase coincided with a 0.19 percent drop in the total amount of rentable office space in Fredericton.
In the case of all three cities, Turner Drake & Partners expects office vacancies to continue to rise in the coming year.
The survey took into account 173 office buildings across the three largest cities in the province, totaling just shy of 8.3 million square feet of rental office space.
The surveys accounted for every office building in New Brunswick with a 5,000-square-foot total rentable area, or greater – this included 77 buildings in Greater Moncton, 54 buildings in Greater Fredericton and 42 buildings in Greater Saint John
Turner Drake & Partners Ltd. conducts Atlantic region-wide free market surveys for landlords, tenants, investors and property developers. The firm bills its surveys as the most comprehensive ever conducted in the area, accounting for 40 million square feet of space across Halifax, Moncton, Saint John, Fredericton, Charlottetown and St. John’s.