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A report last week by the Urban Development Institute and Montréal Centre-Ville found 70 per cent of downtown employees were working from home more than three days a week during the fourth quarter of 2020. Two-thirds say they want to continue teleworking most of the time once the pandemic is over.
The vacancy rate for downtown offices was 12.4 per cent at the end of 2020, up from 9.8 per cent six months earlier, and is expected to rise as leases expire. Hardest hit are the least expensive Class C buildings, where vacancies have risen to 20.3 per cent from 13.8 per cent in the second quarter of 2020, while more luxurious buildings have lost fewer tenants.