View flexible office spaces in Montréal here.
The commercial property analyst expects to see rental activity rise in Canada’s second-largest city as businesses enter “recovery mode” after a difficult few years.
Office space was being vacated on a considerable scale over the course of 2009. This year has reportedly seen a fairly stagnant office market in Montréal, but next year is expected to see much more demand for high-quality office space across the city, particularly in the downtown business district.
Cushman and Wakefield predicted more office space market absorption in the city during 2010 than has actually been the case, but the company’s local branch manager, Louis Burgos, told the Montréal Gazette, “We’re probably running a year behind. We’ll basically have our 2010 in 2011.”
“So long as the market picks up, there might be an opportunity for development of a new office building,” he added.
Mr Burgos also noted that nearby Toronto has seen strong growth in demand for office space to rent in recent months, largely due to a turnaround in the fortunes of the city’s banking sector, which is among the most active in North America.
In other Canadian commercial property news, a report in the Globe and Mail last month suggested that Vancouver is preparing for something of an office space renaissance with several new office buildings set to be constructed in its central business district over the next few years.
Editor’s notes: In Q1 of 2023, office space vacancy rates in Montréal were at 18 per cent, which reflected a 30-year high. There were 15 million square feet of space available in the Greater Montréal area, double what it was three years earlier.
There was also 1.6 million square feet of office space under construction – most notably the 1 million square foot National Bank headquarters office, known as National Bank Place (Place Banque Nationale), at 800 Saint-Jacques Street in downtown Montréal’s business district and the 330,000 square foot Victoria on the Parc (Victoria sur le Parc), both in Old Montréal.
Research conducted in June 2026 found that Colliers reported the Greater Montréal Area office market opened in 2026, with diverging trends across asset classes. Top-tier assets showed improving fundamentals, while lower-tier inventory continued to soften.
The overall vacancy rate rose slightly to 17.2 per cent while availability edged down to 18.7 per cent.
Colliers expressed that Montréal was shifting from a ‘flight-to-quality’ to a ‘fight-for-quality’, as premium space scarcity intensifies tenant competition. However, overall rent was $19.05 per square foot, which was down 1.5 per cent year on year.
The largest deal of the Q1 2026 was Société Générale Canada’s acquisition of 100,000 square feet at 1800 McGill College Avenue in Montréal’s Downtown Core.