Holding the course, steady and stable.
Those are the terms being used by officials at CB Richard Ellis Alberta Ltd. to describe Edmonton's commercial and retail real estate markets in 2004.
"It's a continuation of the previous years," said Mike Gigliuk, director of research for Alberta for CB Richard Ellis.
"The market has been stable for the past four years. We're seeing a fairly small annual drop in vacancy, but it's been gradual. It's much more stable than most of the other commercial real estate markets in Canada."
Edmonton's office market performed well through 2004, according to Gigliuk. The annual vacancy rate in the downtown market fell 3.2 per cent to 8.6 per cent while the city's suburban office market was lower by 1.1 per cent in 2004, coming in at nine per cent.
However, Edmonton's industrial vacancy rate increased minimally by a slim 0.3 per cent. This was caused as new speculative construction slightly outpaced absorption, said Gigliuk.
In the retail sector, the vacancy rate remained stable at about five per cent, with development matching demand, said Gigliuk.
Conversely, it was an off year for institutional investment in Edmonton. This is being attributed to more of a lack of product as opposed to a lack of interest. CB Richard Ellis's forecast is that this will change for the positive in 2005.
Overall, though, the slow but steady growth is a good thing, said Gigliuk.
"Edmonton is categorized as mainly a government and financial services city. Those industries are typically fairly stable and steady," he said.
"Lately, the city's commercial real estate market has been getting a boost from the strong energy sector and we're now seeing the additional impact of this strong oil and gas investment.
