Average foot traffic volumes are at their highest since pre-pandemic levels
Amid the steady easing of pandemic-driven restrictions, Canada’s office spaces continue to garner greater attention and activity, Avison Young reported.
As of the week beginning April 04, the average weekday visitor volumes across both North America and Canada are at their highest since March 09, 2020. Avison Young added that two of the top three NA markets with the highest volumes were in Canada – namely, Edmonton and Calgary.
On average, weekday visitor volume is still 62.3% lower compared to March 09, 2020.
“Although important to clarify that we remain below pre-pandemic levels, it is promising to see the increase in activity in downtowns across North America as we’ve continued to see week-over-week volumes tick upward throughout the start to 2022,” Avison Young said.
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Sheila Botting, president of professional services for the Americas at Avison Young said that a widespread return to the office has yet to happen, considering that the remote-working revolution has introduced a fundamental shift in the role that office spaces play.
“Everyone is looking for the Goldilocks position – companies don’t want to move too early or too late,” Botting said. “We need downtowns. We need offices without a doubt, that does not go away. But the scale and purpose of these offices does change. It’s going to scale up or scale down for any organization based on business purpose, culture, how people work and, ultimately, the role of the office.”
