For office markets everywhere, including Vancouver, the onset of COVID-19 created a sharp reversal in office leasing dynamics, one that caught both occupiers and landlords by surprise. The posterchild of this shift is the all-important downtown market, where third quarter sublease space increased nearly 10-fold from year ago levels. Sublease space at quarter-end totaled 545,000 square feet, a record amount, and accounted for 39% of all vacant space, also a record. The downtown vacancy rate finished Q3 at 5.3%, up 1.7 percentage points during the quarter, and up from 2.2% a year ago. Suburban office markets by comparison showed little change with vacancies up just 20 basis points (bps) during the quarter, and down by 40 bps for the year.