New Jersey and New York City employers have been expanding their ranks this year, allowing New Jersey residents to recognize new opportunities as economic growth in both areas continues to pick up steam. In Northern New Jersey, employment growth continues to follow a positive course as companies in New York City are attracted to the region’s lower operating costs and highly educated workforce. This year, companies are on track to add 29,000 employees, representing a year-over-year expansion of 1.4 percent. This will be the largest gain in jobs created since 2000. Job creation has been highest in the leisure and hospitality industry, as well as education and health services sectors, where 12,200 new jobs were created in the first half of the year. Newly employed professionals in search of affordable housing are opting for rentals in Northern New Jersey, where average rents can be half the cost of the greater New York City area. As a result of this growing demand for Northern New Jersey rentals, developers have expanded the pipeline of multifamily projects to more than 12,000 apartments with completions scheduled through 2017. Developers are on track to deliver over 7,900 apartments this year, representing the widest pipeline and …
For Newark, New Jersey, the well-documented trend toward urbanism and the emergence of creative solutions that position older properties to serve modern needs are creating strong momentum. At a time when leasing activity is ticking upward across the city’s diverse tenant base, it also is becoming clear that Newark’s superior data capacity positions the city to become a hub for tech start-ups and, ultimately, a national hub for the tech sector. For Millennials, Old is “In” According to new Pew Research Center analysis of U.S. Census Bureau data, it is estimated that about 53.5 million millennials (adults aged 18 to 34) are part of the U.S. workforce today. Companies run by or interested in attracting millennials — whether focused on technology or any other sector — are gravitating to 24/7 downtown or urban locations. And they are seeking smart, collaborative work spaces. The result? Old is “in” — at least when it comes to tenant preferences for office space. At The Berger Organization, we are stripping antiquated fit-outs and tapping into the popularity of exposed ductwork, open floor plans and loft-inspired architectural elements. The resulting environments speak to modern desires and individual company cultures, while paying homage to their urban …
The Stamford, Connecticut, office market has everything going for it: proximity to New York City, a good transportation system, a wonderful quality of life, a superior public school network, great recreational possibilities being on Long Island Sound and great professionals. The one negative: almost zero growth in the state for the past 25 years in terms of both population and office-using jobs. This lack of growth has led to a very soft economic climate as it relates to office space. The vacancy rate for class A office space has hovered at more than 20 percent for the last seven years or more and has dipped below that only a few times since 1990. Vacancy Rate Favors Tenants In Fairfield County, the point of equilibrium is an office vacancy rate of approximately 15 percent. In other words, when the vacancy rate is 15 percent, neither landlords nor tenants have the upper hand in the negotiation of a lease transaction. In Stamford, the current vacancy rate resides at just over 23 percent — and that gives significant negotiating leverage to tenants that are looking for space. Interestingly enough, landlords of some of the better Class A institutional buildings are willing, and able, …
With an increasing number of tenants seeking to relocate to New Jersey from parts of New York City, including Brooklyn and the Bronx, the Garden State’s industrial market is at its healthiest since first-quarter 2008. The amount of vacant space has now reached pre-recession levels, decreasing from 7.5 percent to 7.2 percent during the third quarter of 2015. Moreover, the vacancy rate experienced its best year-over-year improvement since the first quarter of 2014. Strong markets include central New Jersey submarkets Exit 8A, Exit 9/Brunswick, and Route 287 West, while the Meadowlands area remains the strongest submarket in northern New Jersey, followed by Exit 14/Newark near the port, and the Route 46/23/3 submarket. While transactions by large tenants, such as Amazon, dominated activity during the first half of the year, industrial buildings were filled up by smaller and mid-sized tenants during the third quarter of 2015. Retailers/wholesalers led the way, which is not surprising considering the continually growing e-commerce sector and recent increases in consumer spending. Supporting the recent economic resurgence of the sector, tenants in the manufacturing industry were also very active during the quarter, though many of their leases were small in size. Transportation companies also took space, enhancing …
Despite the clichés and naysayers, Boston’s apartment fundamentals continue to trend at the top of U.S. cities’ forecasts. For developers, investors and borrowers, Boston truly is that city on a hill. Clichés heard often in the commercial real estate community: Interest rates have no place to go but up. Who is going to pay $4.50-per-square-foot rents? Wait until the next wave of units is delivered. Valuation and yield don’t make sense. The facts: Economists have been predicting interest rate increases for the past five years. Market vacancy has been sub-5 percent for more than five years. Every major apartment player owns or is currently building in Boston, averaging $1.2 billion in product for past three years. Boston is a premier gateway city and buyers want in. The Investor Outlook Simplified When cap rates for the most desired real estate class — in a gateway city, in the safest country for investment in the world — average 4.25 percent, it’s a great time to invest. The 2006 cap rates were just 100 basis points above the 10-year risk-free rate. Today they are 2.0 to 2.25 percent. Half of the deals are cash transactions. Locals can only shake their heads at the …
In what was the most dynamic quarter since the dot-com boom in 2000, tenants in Greater Boston absorbed 2 million square feet of office space in the second quarter of 2015. The activity was driven by a number of high-profile construction completions throughout both the urban and suburban areas of the market. The Boston CBD experienced its ninth straight strong quarter with 861,000 square feet absorbed. Notably the activity occurred mostly outside of the boundaries of the “Big 3” Boston submarkets of Back Bay, Seaport District and Financial District (though the latter did absorb 290,000 square feet in its own right). North Station saw a major bump in occupancy with the completion of Converse’s 230,000-square-foot headquarters, causing the submarket’s largest quarterly absorption number on record. Move-ins by Sonos and Safari Books Online added 200,000 square feet of absorption in Midtown, where vacancy has dropped to nearly half of what it was a year ago after State Street’s departure. And development continues at Boston Landing, where the 245,000-square-foot second phase is currently under construction and is already partially pre-leased to the Boston Bruins. Space continues to be scarce in Cambridge, where vacancy is just 5.8 percent and availability is at an …
In the Capital Region, an industrial/warehouse market with a little over 63 million square feet of space (spread over a 10-county area), vacancy rates have returned to pre-recession levels. It has been a long and steady climb out of a deep recessionary market, which hit this sector of the market the hardest during 2009. During that time, vacancy rates were hovering around the 11 percent mark. In the second quarter of this year, the regional vacancy rate stood at 7.3 percent. Compare this figure to the fourth quarter of 2014, when the vacancy rate was 8.9 percent. As a region, we are again enjoying the absorption of industrial space, as some regional operators expand and some new faces enter the market. We are constantly examining and reviewing the market to understand the current activity, and to anticipate and prepare for the coming trends and changes. So what has lead to the Capital District’s industrial/warehouse market recovery? Several factors are responsible. First and foremost, the overall recovery of both the national and local economies has played a significant role in our industrial recovery. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the unemployment rate in the United States stood at 5.3 percent …
All of the property sectors in the Boston area are thriving, thanks to one of the strongest economies in the nation. As of April this year, the unemployment rate in Massachusetts was 4.7 percent and in Boston, it was 3.7 percent, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Economists generally consider employment to be essentially “full” when unemployment rates dip below 5 percent. By comparison, the unemployment rates in neighboring states were 6.3 percent for Connecticut, 3.8 percent for New Hampshire and 6.1 percent for Rhode Island. The U.S. unemployment rate in April was 5.4 percent. Boston’s overall industrial vacancy rate at the close of the second quarter was 8.1 percent, according to CoStar, and includes warehouse/distribution space, flex space and R&D facilities. It was the fourth consecutive quarter that the vacancy rate has remained in the low 8 percent range. Overall net absorption has been negative this year: -82,364 square feet in the second quarter and -41,089 square feet in the first quarter this year. This compares with positive net absorption of more than 3.1 million square feet in the third and fourth quarters of 2014. However, we believe that the first half of this year is a …
While demand for all types of retail product has been strong over the past few years, investors continue to have a strong appetite for Boston area grocery-anchored shopping centers in 2015 despite meaningful changes to the food distribution industry. The competitive landscape for traditional supermarkets is evolving as value-oriented grocers such as Market Basket, Walmart, Trader Joe’s, Aldi, and Save-A-Lot lure away price-conscious customers, while service-oriented formats such as Wegmans, Whole Foods and Roche Brothers are expanding and gaining market share with more affluent customers. These chains achieve success by targeting the low- and high-end niches of the market. According to IBISWorld, the online grocery sales industry is projected to increase approximately 9.5 percent annually to become a $9.4 billion industry by 2017. Companies such as Amazon and Walmart are increasing their capabilities for selling food and beverages online, and Ahold’s Peapod service continues to expand in an effort to maintain its position as the leading Internet grocer. The food distribution industry has been further saturated by big-box retailers and national pharmacy chains offering a growing selection of packaged goods and dairy products. These non-traditional grocers and e-commerce providers derive much of their profits from non-food items, allowing them to …
Philadelphia’s apartment market remains bright as increasing employment fosters stable economic growth, which in turn is bolstering apartment operations. Employers in the metro, which is known as the center of economic activity in Pennsylvania, will increase hiring 1.2 percent this year, adding 35,000 jobs. In 2014, new jobs increased 1.6 percent and the unemployment rate decreased 130 basis points. Total employment is on the upswing, recovering nearly all of the jobs lost during the recession. The favorable employment conditions are supporting demand for apartments and swiftly improving performance throughout the metro, prompting developers to start new multifamily projects. Builders in Philadelphia are focusing their attention in Center City, which includes the central business district and central neighborhoods of Philadelphia, where nearly 25 percent of this year’s deliveries will be placed into service. Developers are on track to complete 3,600 units in 2015, increasing total apartment inventory 1.4 percent. Last year 2,400 rentals were delivered. Part of the reason that demand is especially strong in Philadelphia can be attributed to the increasing popularity of living in the urban core among young professionals and baby boomers. The lack of developable in-fill locations in the area is prompting developers to convert office buildings …