...
Canada
Offices
About
Professi... ...ea OverviewQuebec City is the capital
of the province
of Quebec. Founded in 1608 by Samuel de Champlain, it is one
of the oldest cities in North America. ... ...as a capital city. It was the capital
of New France until 1763, the capital
of Lower Canada from 1791 to 1841, the capital
of the Province
of Canada afterwards, and has been the capital
of the province
of Quebec since 1867. Consequently, most jobs in the city are concentrated in the public service sector – namely public administration, defence, transportation and tourism.
Approximately 10%
of jobs are in manufacturing, including... ...e mostly francophone. A vast majority
of the residents are native French sp... ...e Anglophones represent fewer than 2%
of the population. Quebec City has a total population
of approximately 800,000.
As a result
of its high density
of governmental and insurance jobs, Quebec City’s commercial real estate market has proven to be exceptionally safe and stable. Though most properties have
offered nominal growth in value, they have not suffered any declines during years
of economic turmoil.
MarketsOfficeAs a result
of growing GDP over the past decade, Quebec City is no longer considered a sleepy government town. The beneficiaries have been the insurance, service, finance, construction and tourism industries. Accordingly, the downtown
office inventory has remained stable due to limited expansion sites; however, the outer suburbs
of Ste-Foy and Lebourgneuf have seen inventories more than double. Surprisingly, Quebec City continues to maintain one
of the lowest vacancy rates in North America along with one
of the highest affordability ratings.RetailDue to the city’s high employment and income levels, the retail sector has expanded steadily over the past five to 10 years. In addition to encouraging large national chains to establish more locations, Quebec City has begun to attract American retailers. A lack
of good-quality space, particularly in the Ste-Foy district, has kept vacancy levels low and enabled rental rates to improve steadily.IndustrialQuebec City’s industrial real estate sector is small in comparison to similar cities
of its size and serves primarily local businesses. Concentration
of ownership with local families has kept inventory levels stable with very little speculative
building.InvestmentInstitutional investors, including pension funds, REITs and public companies, are attracted to Quebec City in increasingly large numbers because
of its historically-low vacancy rates and stable returns. While institutional investors dominate the
office sector, they have also invested billions in the retail, and multi-residential markets. Private local investors remain strong in all sectors with particular footholds in the industrial and multi-residential sectors.Avison Young in Quebec CityAvison Young’s roots in Quebec City date to 2004, two years after the opening
of the
Montreal office. In recent years, Quebec City brokers have negotiated several large transactions in all asset categories while partnering on major projects with other Avison Young
offices in Canada and the United States. Avison Young’s Quebec City
office is particularly well-suited for multi-lingual transactions, and collaborates frequently with the
Montreal and Toronto
offices on a variety
of office leases, acquisitions and disposi...