The Oil & Gas "Butterfly Effect"

The Butterfly Effect perpetuates that "something as small as the flutter of a butterfly's wing can ultimately cause a typhoon half way around the world" - Chaos Theory.  Although the oil & gas market is more of a behemoth than a butterfly, the trends that it maps out have an enormous ripple effect on nearly all other industries, especially in our "diversified" province of Alberta.

As of December 1, 2017

In my latest video, I touch on how the oil & gas market cycles create a mirror effect in the commercial real estate market cycles in Alberta.  Consumer confidence in this province is highly correlated with the positive activity that exists in the energy markets, and when that activity subsides, so does overall market confidence.  Over the past couple of years, we have been experiencing a "sit and wait" mentality, where businesses literally sit and wait, to avoid making commercial real estate decisions, unless absolutely forced to via a lease expiry, for example.  The rational was that they wanted to keep tabs on the market, but hold off until there was a better understanding of the long term expectations of the energy markets, and correspondingly, their own businesses.  It's only been in the last couple quarters, heightened by oil surpassing $50/barrel in September, that we've seen a pickup in tour activity, offer activity, and overall increased closed transaction volume.  Take a look and let me know your thoughts!