The REALTORS Association of Edmonton puts out semi-annual summaries of all commercial activity through the board’s MLS system. This captures a solid snapshot of overall market activity, but as we all know, does not include all commercial transactions as many are completed “off market” directly.

Edmonton Multi-Family Investment Sector

• CMHC forecasts vacancy rates in Edmonton metro area to increase to 4.8% by the end of calendar 2016. This is up only slightly from October 2015’s 4.2%.
• Landlords are on average experiencing a drop to monthly average rental rates of $100-150 per unit, ranging by location, unit type and quality. Most landlords are offering some form of incentive as well, most common being reduced security deposits, free half or full month rent with one year lease, or some prize type gifts with qualifying tenants on a lease.
• Reports vary that approximately 3,300-3,700 purpose-built rental units are under construction or in the early stages of lease-up in the Greater Edmonton Area. These will take time to be absorbed into the rental pool, with a slower demand of late.
• Overall investment sales have be impacted from several new construction, suburban wood frame walk-up style properties being sold in 2016 to date. There are several that developers had slated for sale as individual condominium units that are either put on hold or being taken out as rental projects now.
• Sales of existing stock multi-family apartment buildings have been slower as buyer’s expectations for lower prices have not met with vendor’s expectations on value. As above, most vendor’s have not had a considerable decrease in rental income to justify much drop in asset values.
• Multi-family land sales represented 30% of all commercial transactions, and only 15% of building sale transactions.

Contact

John Carter, B.Mgt – Commercial REALTOR, Multi-Family & Investment Specialist – 1-877-417-2626
RE/MAX River City – Commercial Division
Selling in Edmonton and Central to Northern Alberta

Below is the REALTORS Association of Edmonton – Commercial Division Report.

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Building sector strong as land sector remains soft

Edmonton, August 30, 2016: The REALTORS® Association of Edmonton Commercial Division released the semi-annual update on commercial real estate activity within the City of Edmonton. The report includes a synopsis of commercial and industrial activity for the period ending June 30, 2016 as recorded in Land Titles records when the title to the property is transferred to the buyer.

Total sales (262) of commercial and industrial land and buildings in Edmonton for the first half of 2016 is down 7.7% when compared to the same period last year. 2016 mid-year dollar volumes are also down 4.6% to $870 million from $912 million during the same period in 2015. Declines for the period were concentrated in the land sector.

Sales of commercial buildings were up 47.6% compared to mid-year 2015. Total dollar volume for the category was $183 million, up from $124 million during the first 6 months of 2015. Multi-family sales dropped 12%, but dollar volumes for the category increased 2.5% to $278 million, compared to $271 million for the same period last year. Overall, the building sector recorded 187 transactions, down from 194 during mid-year 2015, for a total dollar value of $680 million, up 13.1% from the same time last year.

At $13 million, the value of industrial land sales was the hardest hit, dropping 71.2% compared to the same time last year. The total value of all land sub-sectors (industrial, commercial, multi-family, urban development and institutional) was $190 million, down more than $120 million compared to mid-year 2015. The full report is available for download.

For more information contact a member of the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton Commercial Division.

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As of June 30, 2016	# Transactions	$ Value	+/- to midyear 2015
Multi-Family Land	23	57,735,410	-4.70%
Commercial Land	21	42,305,902	-26.20%
Industrial Land	12	13,220,000	-71.20%
Urban Development Land	18	73,285,215	-44.10%
Institutional Land	1	3,300,000	-45.20%
Total Land*	75	189,846,527	-38.90%
Multi Family Market	29	278,217,534	2.50%
Commercial Buildings	43	183,364,000	47.60%
Industrial Buildings	45	172,685,000	15.90%
Ind/Comm Condominiums	70	45,406,872	-19.70%
Total Buildings*	187	$679,673,406	13.10%
TOTAL Land and Buildings	262	$869,519,933	-4.60%

*Totals may contain properties which are not included in sub-market categories (e.g. churches, gas bars etc.)
*2015 is the first year for reporting Industrial Land, which has been included in the 2015 midyear total, but it excluded from the 2014 midyear total

The information in this release is provided to the REALTORS® Association of Edmonton by the Network Real Estate Intelligence and used with permission.

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Contact

Michael Thompson	M.A., LL.M, President & CEO	780-453-9340
Susan Rossmann	Communications Manager	780-453-9347

Source – http://www.ereb.com/Commercial/CommercialDivisionNewsRelease.html

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