Latest news with #AdamJacobs
Yahoo
a day ago
- Business
- Yahoo
Trophy offices in Canada's big cities are outperforming the rest. That's not normal
Demand for premium office space in Canada's biggest cities has been extraordinarily resilient, a new report from Colliers Canada says, dramatically outpacing the performance of lower-tier buildings as paradigm shifts continue to reshape work culture. This year, vacancy rates for A-, B- and C-class office buildings are around 16 per cent, while trophy-, or AAA-, class buildings had a vacancy rate of around seven per cent — the widest gap in at least a decade and a striking shift from pre-pandemic norms, when cheaper buildings were typically more in demand. 'If you look historically, that's not usually what happens,' said Adam Jacobs, Colliers Canada's head of research, in an interview with Yahoo Finance Canada. 'But there is kind of a new reality of work that we're all trying to figure out. You know, the return to the office.' The Colliers report says that 'demand is increasingly consolidating around top-tier, best-in-class spaces, with tenants prioritizing quality, location, and amenities over cost alone.' Colliers data show lower-tier buildings having generally lower vacancy rates than trophy-class from 2015 to 2020, which Jacobs says is the norm. The gap peaked in 2017 with trophy-class vacancy rates 3.3 percentage points higher than for lower-tier. The vacancy rates for trophy and lower classes drew even in 2019. Through the pandemic, vacancy rates rose for all building types — but the rise was steeper for lower tier. Around 2023, vacancies in AAA-class buildings levelled off and began to decline, while lower-tier vacancies continued higher. The lower-tier vacancy rate is now 8.9 percentage points higher than for AAA. There is a feeling among certain tenants especially, 'We've got to give the employees a reason to be here.'Adam Jacobs, Colliers Canada Colliers notes similar widening spreads for availability (similar to vacancy but also including currently occupied units that can be leased) and absorption (the amount of space being newly occupied or newly vacant). 'The gap between AAA and the rest of downtown [office space] is just becoming larger and larger and larger to the point where I'm not sure how much larger it can get,' Jacobs said. Most of the recent premium buildings in Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver had big-name tenants before construction started — Jacobs pointed to a 'big boom' in tech companies looking for 'the top-drawer stuff.' Since then, the Colliers report notes, trophy-class demand has been 'further supported by renewals, lease extensions, and general interest in top-tier premises where large pockets of vacant space had been unlocked.' One of the drivers of this interest, Jacobs says, is the pressure the era of working from home has put on employers now trying to bring employees back to the office full or part-time. 'There is a feeling among certain tenants especially, 'We've got to give the employees a reason to be here,'' Jacobs said. ''We have great amenities. We have great coffee, we have great food, we have a great view, we have a prayer room, we have a green building. We have everything, you know, tick every box.'' Location is also a factor, with proximity to transit corridors essential for people less willing to deal with arduous commutes and parking. 'It's harder and harder and harder to get downtown than it used to be,' Jacobs said. 'And that sort of weirdly benefited these really premium buildings, because it's like, just get on the suburban train, show up at the main rail station and you're a one-minute walk from your building. Because [AAA class] have the best locations.' Regardless, the current reality is highly unusual, Jacobs says. "AAA office is a luxury product. Like, it's expensive, and I would say most tenants can't afford AAA office. So generally it has a bit higher vacancy." Colliers says the vacancy rate gap is 'expected to peak as premium supply tightens, driving renewed interest in broader downtown inventory,' as more firms look to bring workers back to their offices. Jacobs says several factors — the 'boom or bust' development cycle, a tough lending environment for major real estate developments, the major pension funds largely investing outside of commercial real estate — mean there won't be any new premium office spaces in the next five years. That alone means some organizations will eventually seek out options in the next tier. 'This has already been a very prolonged increase in vacancy,' Jacobs said. "It's usually like, vacancy goes up for maybe two, two-and-a-half years, and it levels off, and then it starts coming back down. It's been going up for five-and-a-half years, and we are still waiting for it to peak.' John MacFarlane is a senior reporter at Yahoo Finance Canada. Follow him on X @jmacf. Download the Yahoo Finance app, available for Apple and Android. Error in retrieving data Sign in to access your portfolio Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data Error in retrieving data
News.com.au
13-06-2025
- Business
- News.com.au
Jobs marketplace says ‘ghosting' of Gen Z jobseekers is rife
Sarah* sent an email she never expected to get a response to. The 23-year-old had just graduated from a communications and media degree in Melbourne and sent a 'cold email' to an employer at her dream job. She was shocked when she heard back and was told there was a role 'that would be perfect' for her. 'The only problem is that it was in Sydney. I told them I was based in Melbourne but would be willing to move if the role suited,' she told 'This was me potentially relocating my whole life so I took it very seriously.' Things progressed fast and within days she was invited for an interview. It lasted 40 minutes and her interviewer seemed 'very excited and enthusiastic'. After three weeks, Sarah contacted the office again. She was invited for a second interview that lasted an hour. 'They seemed very into me and really positive. They said to me, 'Don't wig out if you don't hear back, we'll get back to you'.' That was mid-November last year. She has been ghosted ever since. 'They went out of their way to say, 'don't worry, we'll contact you' and then I never heard anything,' Sarah said. She has since found work but the experience left a bitter taste in her mouth. And she is not alone. A Sydney jobs marketplace says ghosting is one of the most common experiences for jobseekers. The co-founder and CEO of employment website Hatch, Adam Jacobs, said jobseekers were reporting disturbingly high rates of ghosting. Hatch conducted a poll in which 80 per cent of respondents reported ghosting 75 per cent of the time they were looking for jobs. They said it left them 'frustrated', 'feeling unemployable although I am very skilled', 'questioning thewhole system', 'defeated, unsure and on edge' and 'frustrated and anxious'. One said: 'It makes me feel terrible. If I was not accepted, I would still like a response to add rejection to my Excel sheet.' Jacobs, who also co-founded THE ICONIC, wants his new venture Hatch to 'ghost bust' the jobs space. 'When we talk to candidates about their experience of looking for jobs, ghosting is always top of the list of their frustrations,' he said. 'When someone's applying for a job, it's a nerve-wracking experience. They're putting themselves out there and when they don't hear back, it's incredibly demoralising. MORE: 8 jobs you can do while travelling 'It also gives the candidate a very negative impression of that employer and their brand. The risk for employers is not just that they demotivate that one candidate, but that they build a reputation in the market of someone who doesn't get back to you, and that can really damage their ability to attract high-quality candidates.' Hatch is asking young Australians to have their say on in this year's Hatch's Hotlist survey, which is focusing on ghosting and the use of AI in job hunting, as well as finding out which Australian employers people most want to work at. Last year's Hatch Hotlist from the start-up that pitches itself as Seek for Gen Z found that jobseekers want three things from employers. Culture was at the top of the list, fair pay was second and hybrid, flexible working was third. More than 3000 people voted for the companies they most wanted to work for, including Airtasker, Amazon, Canva, Google and Qantas. previously reported that young people applying for jobs were being brushed off, rejected and ghosted by companies and recruiters. Zoe Lo, 24, said she had applied for 100 jobs over a four-month period and was rejected or ghosted by roughly three-quarters of those. Of those jobs, some were graduate programs and others were full-time roles in marketing, PR or social media. 'For many graduate roles you have to do an online assessment round as well, so I did a few of those for different companies,' she said. In one recent video, the 24-year-old claimed that she was at the point in her job search where she did 'not care anymore'.At this point in time, she had applied to about 95 jobs and said that she knew it 'sounded bad' but she couldn't 'fake' caring about getting a job. Ms Lo said her mindset had shifted, noting that when she first started her job hunt she was worried about being unemployed and felt stressed about finding a job immediately.'Now I am like, OK I am unemployed, I have no income, but I'll be OK,' she said. Jacobs says he wants people to find the right job and team culture match through a 'more human experience — a bit like a dating app but without the heartbreak of ghosting'. Young people have also been taking to social media to share their frustrations.
