Metro Vancouver’s office construction pipeline declined to 1.12 million square feet in the third quarter, the lowest level since 2011, according to Cushman & Wakefield.
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Metro Vancouver’s office construction pipeline fell to 1.12 million square feet in the third quarter, the lowest level since 2011, Cushman & Wakefield said in new research released Monday.
Cushman & Wakefield attributed the decline to rising vacancy across Metro Vancouver, described as the highest level since the early 2000s, driven largely by significant tenant move-outs and technology-sector consolidation, particularly in the downtown core.
In its release, the company said softer office demand has prompted some proposed projects to shift toward alternative uses, reducing the future office development pipeline to approximately 7.6 million square feet.
The firm also said several proposed developments remain on hold as developers await stronger demand and sufficient pre-leasing before starting construction.
Cushman & Wakefield said 14 office projects are currently under construction across the region, with about 49 per cent of the space already pre-leased or pre-sold.
The company reported that the largest concentrations of new office inventory are in the Broadway corridor, Burnaby, False Creek and New Westminster.
During the third quarter, about 138,000 square feet of new office space was delivered, and another 274,000 square feet was scheduled for completion through year-end, putting 2026 deliveries on pace to total about 548,000 square feet, the lowest annual level since 2021.
Cushman & Wakefield said sublease vacancy declined for the 12th consecutive quarter, with sublease space accounting for 13.6 per cent of total vacant inventory in the third quarter, down from 13.9 per cent in the second quarter and about 22 per cent a year earlier.
Despite the high overall vacancy, the firm said large contiguous options “remain limited” in Metro Vancouver, noting that 10 blocks larger than 60,000 square feet are currently available.
The release also said several significant renewals during the quarter showed continued demand from existing occupiers, and that demand has increasingly shifted toward traditional office occupiers such as government, financial services, engineering, mining and energy companies as the influx of large U.S. technology companies has subsided.
Cushman & Wakefield said Metro Vancouver’s headline vacancy rate does not reflect the full picture, pointing to declining sublease inventory and a contracted development pipeline alongside measured tenant space decisions.
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