Demand for commercial real estate in British Columbia rose to near record levels in the first half of 2013, according to Avison Young’s B.C. Real Estate Investment Review.

Fifty-eight transactions were recorded in the first half of the year, totalling more than $724 million. This is the second highest number of transactions recorded over a six-month period since 2002.

Though dollar volume dropped from the record-setting first half of 2012, the overall transactional value was the fourth highest first-half total since 2002. The dollar value for the first half of 2012 was $1.39 billion.

Private investors were often on both the buying and selling sides of transactions during this period, with minimal activity from REITs. The largest office and overall transaction during the first half of 2013 was the $66-million sale of Discovery Parks Vancouver. Four industrial transactions, which all closed in February 2013, contributed significantly to the dollar volume. This included the Triovest acquisition of Buckeye Canada’s manufacturing plant for $21 million.