GTA Suburban Market Snapshot: Brampton
As the most populous region in Canada, the GTA can be overwhelming when examined as a whole. The surrounding suburbs, comprised of four regional municipalities encompassing 24 communities, represent a wide range of unique opportunities in corporate real estate. Over the next few weeks, we will be examining the GTA suburban landscape with market snapshots of significant areas within the GTA.
Today, we are exploring the corporate real estate market of Brampton*, Canada’s ninth largest city and the third largest municipality in the Greater Toronto Area. With a population of approximately 614,000, Brampton has been ranked as the second fastest growing city, amongst the largest cities in Canada with a growth of 4.2% per year.
Located in the Regional Municipality of Peel, Brampton is bordered by Vaughan to the east, Halton Hills to the West, Caledon to the North and Mississauga to the south.
Strategic location
Brampton is located adjacent to Toronto Pearson International, Canada’s largest airport, which serves over 180 destinations and 33 million passengers per year. Brampton is also home to the largest intermodal railway terminal in Canada, and has immediate access to an extensive network of transcontinental highways, including Highways 410, 427 and 407.
Because of its location at the centre of Canada’s major transportation corridors and proximity to the U.S. border, Brampton is within a day’s drive of 158 million consumers.
Talent pool
Brampton’s total labour force is 410,000 strong, with Brampton residents accounting for 9.2 per cent of the Toronto labour force, 4.1 percent of the Ontario labour force and 1.6 percent of the Canadian labour force.
Brampton is home to internationally recognized Sheridan College Centre of Advanced Manufacturing and Design Technology and is developing a strategy to grow postsecondary education. According to Stats Canada’s 2011 Census, 50.8% of residents hold a postsecondary certificate, diploma or degree, 20.1% have a university certificate, diploma or degree at bachelor level or above, and 18.6% have acquired college, CEGEP or other non-university certificate or diploma.
Key industries
Brampton is home to over 8,700 businesses, with its top employers being Rogers Communication, FCA Canada and Loblaw Canada. The major economic sectors include:
Advanced Manufacturing
Business Services
Creative Economy
Food and Beverage
Information and Communication Technology
Life Sciences
Retail Administration and Logistics
Manufacturing has long been the largest sector by employment in Brampton, supporting 33,569 jobs (or 22.3% of all jobs in the area) with 890 manufacturing firms located across the city.
Corporate developments
Despite a total of 4,280 hectares of employment land and approximately 1,100 hectares still available, there isn’t a large demand for office product in the Brampton area. Aside from the large existing head office locations for organizations like Rogers and Loblaws, and Cannon Canada’s head office opening this summer, most of the office space in Brampton localized around the downtown core, the courthouse on Hurontario and Ray Lawson Blvd., and then dispersed across the market.
Most of the office tenants are either small professional services groups to support the community or office functions to support the large industrial and warehouse users in the area. New office developments in Brampton, such as 7020 Hurontario Street, are being marketed at high rents of $22.00 psf net but have had little success with long-term vacancy beyond the initial kick off deals.
*Data sourced from City of Brampton, Economic Development Office
