For the seventh consecutive year, Toronto’s Bay Street has been named Canada’s most expensive in JLL Canada’s annual Most Expensive Streets for Office Space in Canada Report.
With a four-per-cent increase in average rent from $67.31 per square foot in 2016 to $70.14 in 2017, Bay Street once again outranks other major city streets.
Vancouver’s Burrard Street remains the second most expensive street at $61.52 per square foot, while Montreal’s Des Canadiens-de-Montréal Avenue climbed to number three with $52.18 per square foot in average rent.
“The continued demand for downtown office spaces by tech companies not just in Toronto but also in Vancouver and Montreal is a major factor driving up rents on these streets,” says Brett Miller, CEO of JLL Canada.
Des Canadiens-de-Montréal Avenue, located between de la Montagne and Peel, appears on the list for the first time since the report was introduced in 2011. It has an average rent that is eight-per-cent higher than what was recorded for the No. 3 position in 2016.
“The downtown Montreal office market received a boost in 2017 with the addition of the L’Avenue building,” says Andrew Bissett, JLL’s EVP, Tenant Representation Group. “The combined presence of L’Avenue and the Deloitte Tower, both located on Des Canadiens-de-Montréal Avenue, have changed the Montreal skyline and drove the street to prominence.”
Alberta continues to grapple with the impact of low oil prices on the economy, with Calgary particularly impacted due to the high concentration of energy companies occupying spaces in the downtown market, says JLL. Calgary’s 8th Avenue SW slipped one position down from fifth in 2016 to sixth in 2017. With an almost 10-per-cent decline in average rent from $45.89 in 2016 to $41.83 in 2017, 8th Avenue, between 1st Street SW and 5th Street SW, seems to have returned to a state of decline experienced between 2014 and 2016, the company says.
