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Welcome to the job, Calgary city councillors.

Here’s some good news that ushered in your swearing-in ceremony Monday: the vacancy rate in downtown office buildings is beginning to decline.

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But here’s the bad news: the rate still sat at a whopping 25.7 per cent in the third quarter. That is down marginally from the peak of 26.4 per cent registered in the April-to-June period, according to a new Avison Young report.

“The worst is definitely behind us,” said Todd Throndson, Avison Young’s managing director in Calgary.

“The negativity of the market over the past two years has subsided and we’re now looking at a flat period — and then we’ll be looking at a lift in nine months.”

For a city that has seen more For Lease signs in the downtown than full parking lots, it’s a sliver of hope.

Throndson noted there’s been more activity recently among non-energy companies looking to lease smaller amounts of space inside the core area, while the owners of an office building on 7th Avenue S.W. recently applied to convert it to a 72-suite residential rental building.