The industrial real estate market is “surging” in and around Edmonton, a new market report says.
The occupancy rate in Edmonton’s industrial market increased to a 96.4 per cent occupancy rate in the third quarter of 2022, NAI Commercial Real Estate said in the report, adding that land availability and prices are attracting investment from B.C., where rental rates are double that seen in the Edmonton market and industrial vacancy is at a 0.2 per cent.
Some of the greatest gains were found south of the city in Leduc and Nisku, but that still benefits the region, said Jeffrey Sundquist, president and CEO of the Edmonton Chamber of Commerce.
“This is why regional collaboration is so critical,” Sundquist told Postmedia, adding that municipalities can benefit from breaking down the “virtual barriers” that separate them. “Those businesses create jobs and economic prosperity that filters back into the city proper through various ways including night life, retail shopping, dining, transit, festivals and more.”
‘They want to be near the action’
Industrial vacancy rates in the greater Edmonton area have been steadily declining from the last/fourth quarter of 2021 (4.6 per cent) to the third quarter of 2022 (3.6 per cent), the report said, with some of the greater gains found south of the city.
The report recognized Leduc as a “major benefactor” in the industrial surge with a vacancy rate last quarter of 4.7 per cent, down from 6.3 per cent over the same period.
For the City of Leduc, oil and gas supply and service continues to be the main driver behind the trend, economic development manager Harold Wilson told Postmedia.
