Office market recovery continues despite slowing job growth
While office-using employment in Alberta has increased year over year at an average of 3.4% in 2025, there has been negligible growth within 2025. Leasing activity in Q2 2025 totaled 1.2 million square feet (msf), significantly higher than the prior four Q2 figures. This is one of only three quarters since 2023 to exceed the four-year average, which remains elevated due to CNRL’s massive transaction at the end of 2023. Office availability in Calgary has dropped 200 basis points (bps) over the last year to 18.4% and is still being driven by a combination of inventory reduction and leasing activity. The West End Downtown submarket continues to experience the highest availability in the city, which could be somewhat mitigated by the end of 2025 as the next wave of conversions is announced. Sublease space has declined slightly from last year and currently sits at 2.1 msf.