Commercial property market recovery in Canada was "moderate-to-strong" last year, with some markets performing better than expected, new research has shown. However, the in the US, selected markets posted minor improvements while full recovery was elusive.
These are the key findings of the Avison Young 2011 Forecast which covers the office, retail, industrial and investment markets in 17 regions across North America.
"The Canadian picture remains positive. But the bottom line is this: without improved confidence and growth in employment, consumer spending, industrial production and gross domestic product (GDP), the North American commercial real estate market as a whole will have a difficult time recovering," Mark Rose, chair and chief executive officer of Avison Young, said.
However, Mr Rose added that despite this, the broader outlook for the US market was positive and interest in real estate was returning as top quality asset become available.
And by the fourth quarter of 2011, fundamentals in the global and local real estate markets "should start to turn upward and confirm the positive foothold established by the always forward-looking and more optimistic capital markets", he added.