A year after hitting record highs, commercial real estate activity in the Lower Mainland dropped down to typical levels in 2017’s second quarter, according to Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver data released August 22.

The region saw a total of 595 commercial real estate sales in Q2, which is a 32% drop from the 875 sales seen in the same quarter last year. The total dollar value declined 37.5% from more than $4.6 billion last year to just under $2.9 billion.

“Land and industrial sales experienced the largest year-over-year declines last quarter, with sales in both categories down more than one third compared with 2016,” said REBGV president Jill Oudil.

“Looking back over several years, however, we see that last quarter’s sale and dollar value activity follow more historically normal trend lines.”

Activity fell for all commercial real estate types in 2017’s second quarter compared with the same period last year.

For land sales, a total of 227 transactions took place, which is a drop of 39.3% compared with the 374 sales last year. The total dollar value fell 28.6% from $2.1 billion last year to just over $1.5 billion.

The number of office and retail land sales fell 23.2% to 218 sales, compared with 284 sales last year. The total dollar value dropped 57.7% to less than $0.8 billion.

For industrial land, 114 sales were recorded. This is a drop of 34.9% compared with 175 sales last year. The dollar value fell 13.3% to just over $240 million.

Thirty six multi-family land sales – which include high-rises, low-rises, nursing homes, condos and townhomes – were recorded in the quarter. This is 14.3% lower than the 42 sales in Q2 2016. The total dollar value fell 6.8% to $358 million.

The REBGV compiles its data based on information from the BC Assessment Authority.

REBGV : Vancouver Commercial Real Estate Settles Back Down to Historic Levels in Q2 by Emma Crawford Hampel À Business in Vancouver