The COVID-19 vaccine rollout, a rosier economy and the opening of post-secondary institutions to in-person classes could all improve Calgary's residential rental vacancy rate by as early as this fall.

That's the prediction of industry watchers for a rental market that currently sits at a vacancy high of 6.6 per cent, although steady average monthly rents continue to be made even more attractive for renters by incentive offerings.

You can always go downtown. At least that's what the song says.

Much has been written about the current woes of Calgary's Downtown Commercial Core. Office vacancies are approaching 30 per cent and many businesses and commuters are conspicuous in their absence from the area.

However, there are a significant number of Calgarians who have no intention of going anywhere, even after the workaday crowd goes home.

Ongoing economic challenges, shrinking population growth and a pandemic that won't go away add up to a downtown Calgary office market facing critical vacancy rates.

One solution is adaptive reuse: the conversion of vacant office space into residential projects. The University of Calgary's School of Public Policy recently published a research paper exploring the challenges and opportunities surrounding adaptive reuse and how it could make a major difference in the city's downtown core.

Calgary's downtown office vacancy rate is going nowhere but up.

By the end of this year, that rate is projected to jump to 29.5 per cent, and it will climb even higher moving into 2021, says Greg Kwong, regional managing director with commercial real estate company CBRE.

The vibrancy of Calgary's downtown office market is a good indicator of the health of the city's economy, and since the oil price collapse that started in the latter half of 2014, they've both been struggling.

Downtown office market begins bounce back

People who have lived and worked in Calgary for a long time know that the downtown office market is a great barometer of what's happening in the city's overall economy.

For the past couple of years, record vacancy rates in the heart of the city have made headline news, not only in Calgary, but nationally.

However, a recent report by commercial real estate firm Avison Young suggests we've hit the bottom and there's nowhere to go but up.

Calgary's commercial real estate market could be poised for a rebound in 2018

All eyes will be on Calgary's commercial real estate market this year, with hopes that the downtown office sector, which continued to struggle in 2017, will rebound in 2018.

The office market has grabbed everyone's attention over the past three years, as vacancy rates have soared to historically high levels following the collapse of oil prices and the subsequent waves of layoffs that ravaged employment ranks in downtown Calgary. Thousands of people were cut loose, and a vast amount of office space suddenly became vacant in the downtown core.

Three companies to submit RFPs for Moustache Lands

The "moustache" that lies at the entrance to Canmore from Calgary will soon boast a residential development designed to alleviate the mountain resort town's lack of affordable, available housing.

The four-acre (1.6 hectare) site — known as the Moustache Lands because the property is composed of loops created by the interchanges off the TransCanada Highway — is owned by the municipality, which has now shortlisted three potential developers to respond to a Request for Proposal (RFP).

CMHC assessment unchanged from April

Calgary's housing market continues to exhibit signs of over-valuation as economic and demographic fundamentals have altered demand, says a new report.

In its housing market assessment released this week, Canada Mortgage and Housing Corp. (CMHC) noted moderate signs of over-valuation tag due to labour market conditions that have been weak and the seasonally adjusted unemployment rate averaged 8.3 per cent, up considerably from the preceding 10-year monthly average of five per cent.

It's the second time this year that CMHC has noted problematic conditions in Calgary's housing market, the last time being in April.

Commercial landlords thinking outside of the box in wake of high vacancy rates

Landlords in Calgary's suburban office market continue to display increasing creativity in the face of rising vacancy rates that are not expected to stem any time soon, says a new report.

In a third quarter report issued earlier this month, Barclay Street Real Estate noted the overall vacancy rate in suburban Calgary rose by
1.1 per cent from the second quarter to 22.3 per cent. Research director Anthony Scott attributed the slight increase to the introduction of new inventory that came to market with significant unleased space.