Commercial real estate sales topped $14 billion in 2021
Western Investor Staff
Western Investor
Lower Mainland transactions reached the second-highest level in history – and land buys accounted for nearly half the sales volume
Larco Investments paid the City of Burnaby $136 million for a 17-acre vacant industrial site on Marine Way in December 2021. | City of Burnaby
Led by land sales and defying a global pandemic, commercial real estate sales in B.C.’s Lower Mainland reached $14.39 billion in 2021 and posted the second-highest sales in history, according to the Commercial Edge report from the Real Estate Board of Greater Vancouver (REBGV).
There were 2,659 commercial real estate sales in 2021, a 65.3 per cent increase from the 1,609 sales in 2020, according to the REBGV data. Last year’s sales total is the second only to 2016 when 2,848 sales were recorded.
The total dollar value of commercial real estate sales in the Lower Mainland was up 66.7 per cent from $8.63 billion in 2020.
“Like residential consumers, businesses and investors became more comfortable operating in the commercial market in the second year of the pandemic,” Daniel John, REBGV chairman said. “We saw consistent increases among the different commercial property types both in sales volumes and dollar figures last year.”
The Commercial Edge data includes all commercial real estate transactions in the Lower Mainland region that have been registered with the Land Title and Survey Authority of British Columbia.
2021 activity by category:
Land: There were 781 commercial land sales in 2021, which is an 86.8 per cent increase from the 418 land sales in 2020. The dollar value of land sales was $7.28 billion in 2021, a 73.6 per cent increase from $4.19 billion in 2020.
Office and retail: There were 1,041 office and retail sales in the Lower Mainland in 2021, which is up 74.1 per cent from the 598 sales in 2020. The dollar value of office and retail sales was $3.13 billion in 2021, a 77 per cent increase from $1.77 billion in 2020.
Industrial: There were 712 industrial land sales in the Lower Mainland in 2021, which is a 36.9 per cent increase from the 520 sales in 2020. The dollar value of industrial sales was $2.39 billion in 2021, a 61.1 per cent increase from $1.48 billion in 2020.
Multi-family: There were 125 multi-family land sales in the Lower Mainland in 2021, which is up 71.2 per cent from 73 sales in 2020. The dollar value of multi-family sales was $1.58 billion in 2021, a 33.9 per cent increase from $1.18 billion in 2020.
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