Owner guide · commercial leasing
How to find a tenant for your commercial property in Vancouver
Price against live asking rates (median $28/sqft/year across 701 rated Metro Vancouver listings, updated 2026-09-17), fix the information gaps tenants reject, list on realtor.ca through a brokerage plus SpaceList and the classifieds, put up a sign, and call the businesses nearby whose leases are ending. Screen financials, use your lawyer for the lease. Expect 30–180 days depending on asset type.
For private owners of office, retail, industrial and live/work space · 14 min read · Updated September 2026
Asking base rent by asset type
CAD / sq ft / year
Office (292 rated listings)
$22 – $35 – $49
Retail (166 rated listings)
$28 – $39 – $55
Industrial (243 rated listings)
$18 – $21 – $25
Asking base rates from 701 live listings with a stated rate (of 1,216 total), Metro Vancouver + Fraser Valley, updated 2026-09-17. Source: Prospect OS daily scrape of Craigslist and Kijiji. Asking is not achieved; additional rent (property tax, insurance, CAM) is on top.
Step 1
Price it against live asking rates
Most vacant small commercial space in Metro Vancouver is vacant because it is priced off what the owner needs, not what tenants are paying next door. Start with the market. The tables below are generated daily from live commercial-for-lease listings on Craigslist and Kijiji across Metro Vancouver and the Fraser Valley. Rates are asking base rent in CAD per square foot per year.
By asset type
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| Asset type | Median asking | Middle 50% (p25–p75) | Median size (sqft) | Rated / total listings |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Office | $35.03 | $22.39 – $48.86 | 887 | 292 of 612 |
| Retail | $39.08 | $28.00 – $55.00 | 1,234 | 166 of 256 |
| Industrial | $21.00 | $18.00 – $25.00 | 2,528 | 243 of 348 |
Asking base rates from 701 live listings with a stated rate (of 1,216 total), Metro Vancouver + Fraser Valley, updated 2026-09-17. Source: Prospect OS daily scrape of Craigslist and Kijiji. Asking is not achieved; additional rent (property tax, insurance, CAM) is on top.
By city
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| City | Type | Median asking | Middle 50% | Basis |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Vancouver | Office | $33.59 | $20.75 – $45.00 | 162 rated listings |
| Vancouver | Retail | $45.00 | $30.00 – $58.37 | 109 rated listings |
| Vancouver | Industrial | $20.90 | $18.00 – $25.00 | 168 rated listings |
| North Vancouver | Office | $28.50 | $21.50 – $44.39 | 30 rated listings |
| North Vancouver | Retail | $40.42 | $28.71 – $49.00 | 14 rated listings |
| North Vancouver | Industrial | $23.52 | $18.02 – $26.07 | 8 rated listings |
| Burnaby | Office | $44.00 | $30.64 – $72.75 | 14 rated listings |
| Burnaby | Industrial | $21.00 | $18.00 – $25.00 | Regional industrial figure (city has 3 rated) |
| Richmond | Office | $20.49 | $14.42 – $45.25 | 10 rated listings |
| Richmond | Retail | $39.08 | $28.00 – $55.00 | Regional retail figure (city has 4 rated) |
| Richmond | Industrial | $24.61 | $19.80 – $29.72 | 18 rated listings |
| Surrey | Office | $36.60 | $28.68 – $45.92 | 8 rated listings |
| Surrey | Industrial | $21.00 | $18.00 – $25.00 | Regional industrial figure (city has 2 rated) |
| New Westminster | Office | $47.77 | $25.74 – $54.21 | 32 rated listings |
| New Westminster | Retail | $39.08 | $28.00 – $55.00 | Regional retail figure (city has 7 rated) |
| New Westminster | Industrial | $21.00 | $18.00 – $25.00 | Regional industrial figure (city has 3 rated) |
| Port Coquitlam | Office | $35.03 | $22.39 – $48.86 | Regional office figure (city has 2 rated) |
| Port Coquitlam | Retail | $39.08 | $28.00 – $55.00 | Regional retail figure (city has 3 rated) |
| Port Coquitlam | Industrial | $19.75 | $18.00 – $21.00 | 26 rated listings |
Same source, updated 2026-09-17. Where a city has fewer than 8 rated listings of a type, the regional figure for that type is shown and labelled. Cities and types with no listings in the current scrape are omitted.
Three cautions. These are the asks of owners and brokers, and many have been sitting; the achieved rent on a signed lease is often 5–15% below the ask. Classifieds under-represent institutional Class A space, so downtown tower rents are not in this data. And a quoted rate means nothing without the additional rent: a $22 net ask with $12 of additional rent is a $34 gross occupancy cost. The commercial lease rate estimator narrows this to your city, type and size; the net effective rent calculator shows what free rent and allowances do to the number.
Step 2
Fix the space before you market it
Tenants and their brokers reject listings fast, and they reject them for missing information more than for the space itself. Run the commercial listing audit against your current listing; it scores it on exactly these gaps.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| What kills enquiries | Why tenants walk | The fix |
|---|---|---|
| No measured area | “Approximately 1,800 sqft” from an old listing; brokers will not quote it | Measure to a BOMA standard; state rentable and usable |
| No floor plan | A broker will not send a tenant to a space they cannot picture | A simple dimensioned plan |
| No HVAC data | Office and retail need to know what heats and cools it and whether it is metered; industrial needs to know if there is heat | Age, type, metering, on the spec sheet |
| Unclear zoning / permitted use | “Commercial” is not a use | State the zone (C-2, I-1, M-2, CD), outright uses, and what needs a permit; check the current bylaw for the parcel |
| Deferred condition | Stained tiles, dead fluorescents, an unpainted demising wall | A $3,000 tidy-up shortens a vacancy by weeks |
| No power, loading, height, parking data | Industrial asks amps and phase, doors, clear height, dock vs grade; retail asks frontage, signage, stalls | Have the answers before the first call |
What we see reject small-owner listings in Metro Vancouver, 2024–26.
Step 3
Which listing channels actually produce tenants?
Ranked by what produces signed leases for small private owners in Metro Vancouver, in our experience. The mistake is choosing one channel: a listing on realtor.ca, SpaceList and the classifieds, with a sign up and a call list working, gets three to five times the enquiries of a sign-only or Craigslist-only listing. Our commercial leasing service runs all eight, including the MLS listing, which David places himself through his own MLS access.
Swipe sideways to see the full table
| # | Channel | Who it reaches | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Realtor.ca / MLS commercial (via a licensed brokerage) | Every tenant broker; most small businesses searching on their own | Closed to owners: only real estate board members can list. David has his own MLS access. Syndicates widely. Still the largest source of qualified enquiries under 10,000 sqft |
| 2 | SpaceList | Small businesses and tenant brokers searching by map in BC | Strong in Vancouver for office and retail; free to search |
| 3 | Direct outreach to expiring tenants nearby | Businesses within 2–3 km whose leases end in the next 6–18 months | Highest conversion; needs a call list and persistence |
| 4 | Craigslist and Kijiji | Owner-direct market; small tenants under 3,000 sqft | 461 of the 1,216 live listings in our data are owner-direct. David's team monitors both daily |
| 5 | Signage | Drive-by and walk-by tenants, especially retail and industrial | A clean sign with a phone number that is answered. Still closes deals in the Fraser Valley |
| 6 | LoopNet / CoStar | Institutional and out-of-town tenants, national brokers | Paid; useful for industrial over 10,000 sqft and investment sales; less so for a 1,200 sqft unit |
| 7 | Tenant-rep brokers | Tenants already represented | Offer a co-operating commission; send the flyer to the active industrial or retail teams |
| 8 | Business improvement associations | Retailers seeking a specific high street | Many BIAs keep a vacancy list; free |
Our ranking for private owners of space under roughly 10,000 sqft in Metro Vancouver, 2025–26. Larger and institutional assets rank LoopNet/CoStar and brokerage teams higher.
Step 4
What a good commercial listing must state
A commercial listing is a specification sheet, not an advertisement. Every enquiry you do not get is a tenant who could not find one of these: area (rentable and usable, whether mezzanine or yard is included); base rent per square foot per year, net or gross; the additional rent estimate for the current year (tax, insurance, common area or operating cost per square foot); zoning and permitted use; building data (ceiling or clear height, power in amps and phase, HVAC, sprinklers, loading, parking count, elevator, washrooms, accessibility); term and availability (commonly 3–5 years in Vancouver with a 5-year renewal option, the occupancy date, whether fixturing time is offered); and media: professional photos, a dimensioned floor plan, and a 3D walkthrough or video, because out-of-town and broker-led tenants shortlist from the walkthrough before they visit.
$0
3D walkthrough and listing video
Steps 5–7
Showings, screening, and the offer to lease
- Showings01
Answer the phone, qualify in five questions
Half of the small-owner listings we call in Metro Vancouver go to voicemail and are not returned within a day; tenants with a broker move on. Before a showing ask: What is the business and intended use? How much space and what layout? When do you need to be in? What is your budget for total occupancy cost? Who decides, and are you working with a broker?
At the showing bring the spec sheet, floor plan, additional-rent breakdown and zoning letter. Walk through power, HVAC and loading before they ask.
- Screening02
A five-year credit decision
There is no Residential Tenancy Branch if it goes wrong; the lease and the courts are the remedy.
- Financial statements: two years for an operating business; a business plan and the principals' position for a new one.
- Credit: commercial report on the company, consumer reports on the principals with consent.
- Guarantor or indemnifier: for a new or numbered company or a thin balance sheet, a personal guarantee, sometimes limited to the first 2–3 years.
- Use clause: narrow enough to protect the building and other tenants; checked against zoning.
- Insurance: commercial general liability (commonly $2–5 million), improvements and contents, business interruption, landlord as additional insured.
- Deposit: not capped like residential; first and last months plus GST is common, more for a weaker covenant.
- Searches: previous landlord, bank, corporate registry, court search.
- Offer to lease03
Business terms first, then your lawyer's lease
General information, not legal advice. BC has no standard commercial lease; the Commercial Tenancy Act and the lease govern. Sign a short offer to lease with the business terms (premises and area, term and commencement, base rent by year, additional rent estimate, deposit, fixturing and free rent, improvement allowance, permitted use, renewal options, conditions) with a 5–10 business day condition period. Once conditions are removed it is binding on its terms. The lease then follows on your lawyer's form, carrying the default, distress and re-entry provisions, assignment rules, make-good and overholding. Nothing changes hands until the signed lease, deposit and insurance certificate are in.
See commercial lease types in BC for gross, net and triple-net structures, GST, deposits and escalations.
Step 8
How long it takes: days-to-lease by asset type
30–90 d
Small industrial
Availability roughly 3–4% (brokerage market reports, 2025)
60–150 d
Small office
Move-in-ready suites with HVAC data lease first
90–180 d
Street retail
Frontage, parking, use and the additional-rent number
90–180 d
Live/work, specialized
A narrow tenant pool; reach it directly
Marketing to signed lease, from our experience with private-owner listings in Metro Vancouver (2024–26) and brokerage market reports; add 0–90 days of fixturing before rent starts. Under-documented or over-priced listings routinely take twice as long. Every month of vacancy on a 2,500 sqft unit at $30 gross is $6,250 of rent gone, plus the taxes, insurance and utilities you keep paying. The vacancy cost calculator puts a number on your own space, which is usually the fastest way to decide whether to cut the ask or spend on preparation.
Step 9
When to hand it to a leasing specialist
Owners with the time, a phone that gets answered and one straightforward unit can do this themselves. Hand it over when the space has been listed more than 90 days without an offer; when you need the listing on the MLS and realtor.ca, which an owner cannot post to (David has his own MLS access and lists it himself); when the tenants who fit are working through brokers and you have no co-operating commission on offer; when the use is specialized (live/work, food service, automotive, cannabis, medical); when you are not in the city or have more than one vacancy; or when the building needs a plan, not a tenant.
Do it yourself
One unit, you answer the phone
- Cost
- Your time; classifieds are free, SpaceList and LoopNet charge for premium placement
- Reach
- Classifieds, sign, SpaceList; no realtor.ca
- Risk
- Mis-pricing, an unscreened tenant, a template lease
Leasing specialist
All eight channels, screening, negotiated offer
- Cost
- Leasing commissions commonly 4–6% of total lease value, or about one month's rent per year of term (published rate cards, Metro Vancouver managers, 2025–26)
- Reach
- Realtor.ca through a brokerage, SpaceList, LoopNet, classifieds, sign, BIAs, tenant-rep brokers, direct outreach
- What you get
- Spec sheet and walkthrough, screening, an offer negotiated on your side, the lease handed to your lawyer with terms settled
David's leasing fee is typically the first and last months' rent on the lease, and ongoing management is quoted per property.
Specialist plus management
Leasing and ongoing management together
- Cost
- Commercial management typically 3–8% of gross collected rent (published ranges, 2025–26)
- Reach
- As specialist, plus renewals, additional-rent reconciliations, maintenance
- Best for
- Owners out of town, multi-unit buildings, owners who want one accountable contact
The commercial portfolio shows the space we are leasing now, including the 8,003 sqft Castle Armory & Residence in North Vancouver and the Fraser River industrial site in Delta, leased to a warehousing tenant on a 5-year term. If the better answer for your building is a sale rather than a tenant, our sell or lease page explains how sale advisory, executed by Lawrence Siccia (Engel & Völkers), fits alongside leasing. Or contact us with the address.
Owner questions
Send us the listing, get a straight read
Share the address and what you are asking. We reply with where it sits against live asking rates, what the listing is missing, and how long we think it takes to lease.
David Siccia Properties handles leasing and management. Property sales are executed by Lawrence Siccia, REALTOR®, Engel & Völkers Vancouver.
Related
Guides
Tools
- What should my space lease for?Live asking rates by city and asset type
- Metro Vancouver commercial lease ratesMonthly asking rates by city and asset type
- Vacancy cost calculatorWhat an empty unit costs per month
- Net effective rent calculatorFree rent, TI, escalations, NNN
- Lease expiry plannerA dated plan from your lease end date
- Commercial listing auditWhy a listing gets no inquiries
General information, not legal advice
This guide describes commercial leasing practice in British Columbia as we understand it in September 2026, including the BC Commercial Tenancy Act, GST treatment by the CRA, and City of Vancouver and other municipal zoning bylaws. Market figures are asking rates from public listings, not achieved rents. Confirm your lease, your zoning and your tax position with a lawyer, the municipality and an accountant.