The first quarter was again very sluggish with office leasing activity down at levels not seen since the depths of COVID. This was particularly the case downtown, but the general slowdown was evident in almost all parts of the region. At the end of the quarter the regionwide availability rate registered 8.5%, near a seven-year high, while the vacancy rate increased slightly to 5.7%, a six year high. To put Vancouver in perspective, however, it is worth noting Toronto availability registered 11.0% for Q1, and many North American office markets are well into the double digits, with some in excess of 20%. Even locally, however, the overriding theme among tenants is to be highly conservative when committing to space, and a clear preference to keep the term as short as possible. With the imbalance between supply and demand set to only increase, rents, are expected to drift lower.