Average weekly - 78%
Peak Day - Wednesday 87%
Low Day - Friday 51%
No statistically relevant change to the Index through the middle of July. We do adjust the Index to account for summer holidays as we have in previous years. The Index reflects the percentage of those who are working and not absent for traditional reasons. We expect this to continue through to the middle of August. Overall foot traffic and transit use by commuters is lower but not as a result of increased remote work.
We are tracking new tenancies and, as reported in the last Index, tenants who are expanding their office footprint and hiring new employees appear to be building into their plans a factor for some remote work. This would indicate that occupancy levels in leased office space may be higher than pre-pandemic occupancy because the remote workforce isn’t calculated into the amount of leased office space.
If this trend continues as companies reconfigure their office needs, the Occupancy Index will increase as will the aggregate number of employees working downtown.
Enjoy the Articles of Interest below
Your SRRA Team,
Links to Articles of Interest
Focus on Housing Could Affect Future Economic Growth – Vancouver a Cautionary Tale?
For veteran planners, attempts to stave off demands to convert “industrial” land to housing is an age-old problem. The current obsession with looking at all “employment lands” as potential housing sites is playing out in many cities. The Vancouver experience could be the canary in the mine for Toronto, as pressures to find sites that qualify as “transit-oriented” mount.
Musical Chairs: Bay Street Workers Challenged to Find Desk Space as Return to the Office Gains Momentum
Although Canadian banks have led the charge to require employees to return to the office, the reality has proved to be less than ideal, with staff scrambling to find the right space for their needs. The timeframe for sorting this out could have an impact on the successful implementation of the RTO mandates.
Stark Warning for Employers from an International Law Firm
Chances are that the opinions expressed in this article would be interpreted differently in North America (particularly the U.S.) – but worth a look to see how arguments to defend against RTO mandates could play out.
A Credible Alternative to Dealing With Empty Office Space
Calgary has experienced more significant vacancy levels than most Canadian cities, resulting in city-led programs to facilitate conversions where they make sense. This article details how the University of Calgary has taken the opportunity to relocate its design and planning departments to downtown from a suburban location that didn’t provide the right kind of learning environment. In the Dean’s words, “The (school) should be downtown because, in the same way that a medical school is located near a hospital, a design school needs to be integrated into the workings of the city.”
“The Occupancy Index is supported by the City of Toronto, Downtown Yonge BIA, and Downtown West BIA. It is a measure of the percentage of office employees returning to the office compared to the number of employees who would normally have come to their offices pre-COVID. For a detailed description of the calculation please contact Iain Dobson at [email protected],”