By Nick Knecht, Senior Advisor, Industrial, Dickson Commercial Group The vibrancy and growth of the Reno-Sparks industrial market has solidified the region’s position as a premier distribution hub of the Western U.S. — even as we head into what is expected to be a nationwide economic slowdown in the near term. The third quarter continued the trend of positive net absorption of 469,970 square feet. This occurred even with four new construction deliveries totaling 1.7 million square feet, 98 percent of which was spoken for upon completion. This momentum is expected to continue to some degree, as our team is actively negotiating RFPs on each of our speculative big box listings, with space requirement inquiries coming in at a steady pace. Alongside this positive activity, our market has been affected by the economic turmoil that has started to take shape over the past two quarters, with similar trends discussed nationwide. A changing debt market has produced several price adjustments mid-transaction for buyers to stay within their underwriting thresholds. The number of developers aggressively acquiring land at a feverish pace has decreased as they face a higher cost of capital and tamp down rent growth assumptions to more reasonable levels. There …
Market Reports
By Melissa Molyneaux, Executive Vice President, Colliers Northern Nevada’s office market has continued to post strong fundamentals this year. Positive tenant demand has improved vacancy in recent quarters, though an uptick in available sublease space could impact market-wide vacancy in the future. The Reno-Sparks region has also seen a handful of new speculative office construction starts that will add trophy office and medical office space to the downtown and South Meadows submarkets. Strong economic recovery has been evident this year as Nevada reached a new employment peak of nearly 1.5 million jobs in June. Washoe County’s population has grown an impressive 17.1 percent since 2010, to 500,000 people. A study by Woods and Poole Economics estimates the area will reach 764,000 people by 2060. Market-wide vacancy rates dropped to 10.6 percent in the third quarter of 2022, down 200 basis points year over year. Downtown vacancy fell 310 basis points to 11.7 percent, while suburban vacancy fell 180 basis points to 10.3 percent in the same period. Vacancy has continued to improve since the onset of the pandemic, though the Reno area has started to see an increase in available sublease space hitting the market. About one quarter of all …
By Paul Sweetland, Senior Vice President, Colliers After a record year in 2021, Southern Nevada’s industrial market does not appear to be slowing down. The first-quarter vacancy decreased to 1.7 percent with 2.9 million square feet of net absorption. This is the lowest vacancy rate we have ever recorded in Southern Nevada. For comparison, vacancy only went as low as 3.1 percent during the boom that preceded the Great Recession. Demand was positive for all industrial subtypes for the first quarter, while rents for warehouse and distribution space increased 46 percent year over year. All industrial sectors added jobs on a year-over-year basis, with the largest increase being in logistics, which added 8,100 jobs. The current industrial boom has been driven by the influx of relocations and expansions from all over the U.S., but primarily from California. Southern Nevada’s strategic location, with its ability to service 12 markets within one day, has also made it an ideal location for regional and national distribution. New industrial completions totaled 2.1 million square feet this quarter, almost all of it being warehouse/distribution product. Southern Nevada is in its third major wave of post-Great Recession industrial development, with more than 8 million square feet now under …
By Adam Schmitt, First Vice President, CBRE | Multifamily Investment Properties The multifamily construction pipeline in Las Vegas has ramped up in recent years and continues to be robust. Apartment developers have long capitalized on the growth of the Las Vegas market, and with the vast potential remaining in the city, multifamily builders are continuing to place their bets in Vegas. Our team at CBRE tracked a total of 4,317 multifamily units constructed in 2021, and are projecting more than 8,000 in 2022, with at least 16,000 in 2023 and beyond. For reference, over the past 10 years, the Las Vegas multifamily market has delivered about 3,700 annual units on average. The projects being built in Las Vegas are predominately luxury, Class A developments that tend to cater to the lifestyle renter or renter-by-choice demographic. The locations of these developments are mostly concentrated in the Southwest and Henderson submarkets, comprising 62 percent of the construction pipeline. Developers have historically flocked to these submarkets because of the areas’ respective demographics, perpetual growth and strong multifamily fundamentals. More recently, multifamily developers have found opportunities in the Northwest and North Las Vegas submarkets as those regions have seen years of high rent growth, and the rent …
By Ryan Sarbinoff, First Vice President and Regional Manager, Marcus & Millichap A growing, educated local labor force and lower rents compared to other office hubs in the region are driving office tenants to Las Vegas. The metro registered the largest drop in office vacancy among major U.S. markets over the 12-month span that ended in March, as tenants absorbed more than 2 million square feet. Much of this space was at Class B/C properties, with the subsector noting the strongest four-quarter span for demand on record. The resulting 330-basis-point reduction in overall availability during the year-long period slashed vacancy to a more than 15-year low of 12.4 percent, enhancing the sector’s outlook heading into the second quarter. The metro’s second-largest submarket by inventory, Southwest Las Vegas, exemplifies the strength of the local office sector. During the past year, the area accounted for half of the metro’s 20,000-square-foot-plus lease executions. International Gaming Technology’s sublease of a three-story building highlighted recent activity, with VisCap Media, Agilysys, DraftKings, Kiewit and Molina Healthcare all making notable commitments that dropped vacancy to 9.4 percent in March. Apart from leasing, this submarket is also the center of development. Roughly 60 percent of the space slated for completion …
By Bret Nicholson, Retail Specialist, Marcus & Millichap Reno’s retail sector is setting records as of February 2022. Vacancies are hovering near an all-time low of 4.9 percent, and asking rents have risen to new heights, averaging $1.72 per square foot on a monthly basis. Sellers are achieving cap rates comparable to those seen in core markets, resulting in sale prices that many would not have thought possible only a few years ago. A number of factors have contributed to the continued absorption of retail vacancies in Reno. On a local level, Reno now has roughly 150 percent more six-figure jobs compared to 2015. This allows for more discretionary retail spending. In addition, very high construction costs and development delays have forced businesses to consider repurposing existing retail space. For example, a 24 Hour Fitness shuttered at 6155 Neil Road, leaving behind a vacant 24,000-square-foot special-use building. Not long after the health club’s exit, the Coral Academy of Science began renovating the space and is now an operational elementary school. Despite many vacancies having been repurposed and filled since 2020, demand for retail space in Reno continues. About 265,000 square feet of new construction is expected to be completed in 2022, which will be …
By Shawn Jaenson, Senior Vice President, Industrial Specialist, Kidder Mathews The Northern Nevada industrial market is composed of 98.7 million square feet of industrial real estate spread across six submarkets. Northern Nevada’s centralized location allows for a one-day truck service to more than 60 million customers. Couple that with the fact that Nevada has no corporate tax, personal tax, inventory tax, franchise tax, or special intangible tax and the city is one of the most desirable industrial locations in the Western U.S. What was once thought of as unattainable in Northern Nevada has become the norm as nearly every record or statistic has been shattered and the market continues to show no signs of slowing. The overall market vacancy rate plummeted in 2021 to 1.7 percent, with a direct vacancy rate of 1.6 percent — a more than 200 percent decrease from the start of the year when overall vacancy rates were 5.3 percent and direct vacancy rates were 4.9 percent. Due to the unprecedented demand, new product in Northern Nevada has never been more crucial as new construction struggles to keep pace with market demand. In 2021, Northern Nevada had a positive net absorption of just over 7 million square feet, which …
By Robert Skinner, Broker-Salesperson, Sierra Nevada Properties Commercial Group Back in the day, Reno had lots of land, we did not need high density development and there was little reason to build vertically. Because of the efforts of state and community leaders, as well as economic development agencies like Economic Development Agency of Western Nevada (EDAWN) and the Northern Nevada Development Authority (NNDA), many companies relocated and expanded here. With the increase in jobs came the need for more housing. The multifamily rental vacancy rate in the Reno/Sparks area is currently below 2 percent, with fewer than 50 listings for townhouses and condominiums on the Northern Nevada Multiple Listing Service (MLS). The region has absorbed 750 acres per year since 2011, according to a recent study by Woods and Poole that utilized data from the Truckee Meadows Regional Planning Agency. The study further predicts the region will run out of developable residential land by 2038. The supply shortages are increasing the price of parcels, while landowners may not sell as they hold out for higher prices. This will accelerate the shrinkage of developable residential land. To meet demand, city planners are calling for higher density and vertical multifamily development. This means we …
By Patrick Riggs, Senior Advisor, Office, Dickson Commercial Group The leasing market in Reno/Sparks is back on track following a strong end to 2021. The fourth quarter of 2021 concluded with an impressive 145,558 square feet of positive net absorption. This was the third straight quarter of positive net growth. Panasonic Energy stole the headlines in the quarter four with its 95,000-square-foot lease of 645 E. Plumb Lane in Reno’s central submarket. However, demand in the smaller office spaces under 5,000 square feet continues to be the driving force in this rebound. Local and regional companies with more flexibility to maneuver the pandemic were rewarded in 2020 and 2021 by capitalizing on aggressive landlord concessions. We are starting to see these concessions being rolled back as demand continues and vacancy nears pre-pandemic levels. The 2021 Reno sales market bounced back from 2020 with increases across the board in overall volume, price per square foot and number of sales. Both volume and the number of sales nearly doubled year over year. Average sales pricing is coming in at $300 per square foot, while new build-to-suit construction is over $400 per square foot with no slowdown in sight. Owner-users and office investors have been …
By John Stater, Research Manager, Colliers Southern Nevada gained 15,400 industrial jobs between August 2020 and August 2021, according to the Nevada Department of Employment, Training and Rehabilitation. The logistics and wholesale sectors added jobs on a year-over-year basis, while the natural resources and construction sectors lost jobs. Unemployment in the Las Vegas-Paradise MSA was 8.3 percent in August 2021. Over the past 12 months, total employment in Southern Nevada increased by 55,600 jobs, a 6.1 percent increase. Southern Nevada lost 241,900 jobs between February and April 2020 and had regained 71 percent of those lost jobs by August 2021. Southern Nevada is in its third major wave of post-Great Recession industrial development, with 6.6 million square feet of product now under construction. The fourth quarter of 2021 could see 2.3 million square feet of product added to inventory. Projects scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of 2021 are currently 58 percent pre-leased. Projects completed this quarter were 98.8 percent pre-leased when completed. Net absorption this quarter was a record 4.45 million square feet. This brought net absorption up to 9.79 million square feet year-to-date, higher than the previous record for annual net absorption recorded in 2017. Warehouse/distribution net absorption …