Ottawa's Real Estate Market

COVID-19 will forever influence almost all aspects of our lives, including the use of real estate. At the one year mark of the pandemic, what is the state of the Ottawa real estate market and how does Ottawa look as a place to invest. Important to both landlords and tenants join our experts as they break down both the impact and forecasts stemming from a year like no other.

Communication and collaboration are the key for business to move beyond the challenges faced in 2020. BOMA Ottawa and the Ottawa Board of Trade are pleased to offer this one hour webinar, preceded by a 30 minute networking opportunity for landlords and tenants to discuss the issues and opportunities we are facing together.

Your Moderator
Shawn Hamilton, President BOMA Ottawa
Vice President, Business Development, Canderel

Panel Discussions

Office Sector
COVID-19 forced the Office Sector to adapt and adjust in a variety of ways. First there was the exodus from most buildings as local health protocols required that only a small percentage of workers would be allowed to be in their place of work. The largest employer, landlord and tenant, the Federal Government, ordered its employees to work from home last March and they have yet to return and most businesses followed suit. Now we face the challenge of how to return to the office, but will be the lingering effects from COVID-19 and will the landlord and tenant relationship change in the short term or the long term?


Warren Wilkinson
Managing Director, Ottawa, Colliers International


Alain Desmarais
Executive Vice President, Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa

Retail Sector
No sector of the economy was more negatively impacted by COVID-19 than the retail sector. While some of the largest retailers and pharmacies were all owed to remain open, many more small retailers were not, or when they were allowed had very strict conditions. What are the prospects for retail tenants, how must they adapt, and how should they work with their landlords to ensure a re-emergence of the retail sector in2021.


Candice Lerner-Fry
First Vice President, Marcus & Millichap


Richard Getz
Senior Advisor, Koble Commercial Realty and Brokerage

Industrial Sector
As in-store retail was suffering through one of its worst years ever, the national availability rate in the Industrial Market decreased to 3.3%. Even within a pandemic, and related economic downturn, 2020 saw over 23.0 million sq. ft. of new space come onto the market, a record for a single year.COVID-19 and the ensuing stay-at home measures dramatically accelerated e-commerce sales and adoption in Canada, necessitating occupiers to develop more complex logistics networks across the country. Is this just a short term impact or will it mean something for years to come and is Ottawa positioned to take advantage of any resulting opportunity.


Steve Piercy
Vice President Marketing, CBRE


Ryan Semple
Vice President Marketing, Avenue 31

Investment
As much as we look at what happened in 2020 and forecast how we think that will affect current leases, tenants and business practices, an important question is to ask how does Ottawa look as an investment opportunity? Like much of business, 2020 resulted in national investment volumes declining. Always considered as table investment market, how did Ottawa perform coming out of 2020 and what are the prospects going forward? Will we return to pre COVID levels of investment, maybe outperform other markets across the country or will there be a cautious approach to investing in Ottawa?


Nathan P. Smith
Senior Vice President, Cushman & Wakefield Ottawa


Nico Zentil
Senior Vice President, Capital Markets CBRE

Presented in partnership with: