TORONTO - A new report says continued low interest rates and a slow drop in the value of the Canadian dollar, among other things, will increase demand for office space in the second half of 2013.
Cushman & Wakefield says while demand will be stable for the first half of this year, positive demand conditions are expected to follow.
In its 2013 Office Outlook report, the real estate services firm also cites a stabilized euro zone and the expected U.S. economic recovery as factors behind greater office space demand.
All those factors taken together will help "revitalize manufacturing and export growth."
Cities such as Vancouver, Calgary and Toronto, it adds, will likely see pent-up demand for office space before new buildings under development hit the market.
In addition to those three cities, the report notes that Montreal and Ottawa are also undergoing "substantial new development activity."
Cushman & Wakefield says tenants have been moving from the suburbs into city centres to "access the downtown talent pool."
Calgary, it notes, is the exception to that trend, with companies such as Canadian Pacific Railway Ltd. (TSX:CP) and Imperial Oil Ltd. (TSX:IMO) opting to move their headquarters outside of downtown.
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