What the heck happened in Montreal? Is there something missing from these numbers?

+94k sf net absorption in the downtown core Q1 2014.

After the 2013 it had that's not exactly a good thing.
Why is McGill's expansion included in the lease transactions? Would that not be institutional space and not office space?

It's just one quarter, so I wouldn't read too much into it, but the numbers are certainly not good for Q1.

Don't know where GreaterMontreal is getting his numbers (there are a lot of credible sources who differ) but CBRE is saying -185,000 sq ft downtown Montreal for Q1. If it were positive 95,000 that would make almost one million sq ft of negative absorption in the suburbs which i have a hard time believing.

ColliersCanada Montréal Q1 2014.

Ahh gotcha, took a look at the report, looks like they booked a lot of the negative absorption in FY 2013. CBRE only showed a couple hundred thousand sq ft of negative absorption in 2013 while Coliers showed -885,000, so it is a timing issue that explains the discrepancy.

Like I said, a lot of credible firms that have differing analytically techniques can make this a tricky business.

Ottawa is the best performing office market in the country right now? That's a big shock, given that the downsizing feds are vacating a lot of their rented office space right now.

It's a welcoming trend, but some industries (IT especially) are really attached to their suburban HQs.

Don't bet on that. A lot of tech companies in Silicon Valley have had to open offices in downtown SF in order to attract people to the jobs.

Also don't underestimate the number of tech companies that are already in our downtowns. They are not all suburban as some may think.

While IT does have a history of locating in suburban office parks (cheaper rent?), there have been some notable exceptions - every single Google office in Canada and Apple and Amazon in Toronto, for example.

Keep in mind that a few million square feet of downtown office space is off the market for renovations. These buildings aren't reflected in the numbers.

A lot of these high tech companies built there HQ in the 90s back when it was popular to build huge suburban campuses with plenty of green space, parking and amenities.

Thankfully, we're seeing a reversed trend in OT with companies like Open Text and Shopify settling and expanding downtown.

Quick question for the rest of Canada; how much office space does your respective CBD hold? OT has around 20 million square feet, including a few buildings under reno. Downtown Hull has around 6 million.