The downtown market had only one new large lease during the second quarter, according to JLL
Toronto’s commercial segment continues to labour under adverse conditions, with the downtown market recently seeing a spike in office vacancies.
In a new report, Jones Lang LaSalle said that the area saw 169 newly empty office spaces during Q2 2020. This accompanied an increase of more than 7% in the market’s rents.
The report also said that downtown Toronto saw only one new large lease signed during this period.
A significant proportion of market players are “still waiting for stability to return in the office market and in everyday life,” JLL said. “Downtown Toronto remains a landlord’s market.”
The COVID-19 pandemic’s impact has reverberated across every asset class, with the commercial market enduring the brunt of the hammer blows on business liquidity.
According to a recent Statistics Canada survey, around 20% of Canadian business tenants are considering shutting down within the next half-year due to declining sustainability. This came after roughly 33% of businesses saw their April revenues drop by more than 50% annually.
In the last few months, nearly 40% of Canadian businesses were forced to cut down their working hours, and around 28% had to trim their workforces.
