Greater Vancouver Retail — Q1 2026

The Quarter in Brief

Greater Vancouver entered 2026 as one of the tightest retail markets on the continent — a characterization JLL applied explicitly — and the first quarter did little to change that. Lee & Associates and JLL, both drawing on CoStar data, reported overall retail vacancy at 2.7 percent. The level held a touch firmer than a year ago, with both brokers connecting the past year's softening to the closure of Hudson's Bay anchor stores — JLL squarely, Lee in part. The two diverged on the most recent direction — Lee's quarterly series ticked up ten basis points to 2.70 percent, while JLL described 2026 vacancy as having stabilized.

Asking rents were firm, sitting in the high thirties per square foot: Lee reported an average triple-net rate of $39.04 and JLL an overall average asking rent of $38.89, which JLL said was the highest across major markets. The supply picture was mixed — JLL reported construction starts tracking below their historical average and demolitions outpacing completions, even as the under-construction stock measured by Lee edged up from a year earlier. Investment activity was active, with Lee highlighting an auto-retail portfolio acquisition that spanned Western Canada. On pricing, Vancouver carried the tightest regional-mall retail cap rate of the thirteen markets in CBRE's national survey.

This report relays what the brokers reported for the quarter. It contains no forecasts or recommendations of its own; where a broker's outlook is described, it is attributed to that broker.