Crafty Americans are trying to woo corporate headquarters away from Toronto

Office space in Toronto is in high demand—and is therefore expensive—which means some companies may succumb to the pull of cheaper digs in the U.S., according to a study by a New Jersey–based consulting firm. Boyd Company says U.S. governors are spending more time in Toronto, trying to woo Canadian companies to move their headquarters to the hard-hit U.S. office market, where the prices of office space are at historic lows. (It may be working: Hot Brands moved to Florida in March, and Direct Energy relocated to Houston last January.) Still, local real estate watchers say they’re not worried about an exodus. “Costs are high but we’re actually seeing a shift more back to the downtown as the residential condos are built and people want to work near where they live,” Scott Addison of Colliers International told the Toronto Star. Plus, a boom in office construction in the core should help ease the vacancy rate, which is down around 4.5 per cent (compared to eight per cent nationwide). [Toronto Star]