Market Reports

By Tyler Dingel and Blake Bogenrief, CBRE | Hubbell Commercial COVID-19, and the immediate uncertainty that came with it, slowed investment activity in nearly all markets. The transactions that have closed since March, and those that will follow in the coming months, are changing. Investors and lenders alike are more thorough in upfront analysis, more selective in tenants, and overall, trending more conservative. The vision is now long-term oriented, and the spotlight is shining brightly on essential goods and services as well as investments with proven track records. Slow and steady is winning the race. Investor concerns Over the last 12 months, a common concern for real estate investors has been what the future holds for capital gains taxes. Many sellers are contemplating and opting to “take the hit” now as opposed to down the road when capital gains tax could be replaced by the ordinary income tax rate. In addition, the Biden Administration seeks to increase individual tax rates while the U.S. continues to deliver financial aid to the masses. Nearly nine months following the CARES Act, Congress agreed on a second, $908 billion stimulus package. Many expect that taxes will do one of two things in the future …

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While the Inland Empire economy was hit hard in 2020, we remain optimistic on the retail sector’s recovery over the coming 12 to 24 months. This market is a benefactor of COVID-19 in that more people than ever before are able to work remotely. This has triggered a migration from urban cores to more spacious and affordable housing in the newer residential communities of Riverside and San Bernardino counties. As the population is anticipated to expand here, retail will directly benefit as residents are more likely to have additional discretionary income to allocate to retail and restaurant venues. In particular, there are many high-growth submarkets to watch within the region. Some of our top areas include Eastvale, Jurupa Valley and Rialto, which have all experienced expansion despite the restrictions and challenges that COVID has created. They are seeing a significant amount of residential growth as they offer strong school districts, expansive parks, affordable housing, proximity to large employment bases and newer retail amenities. A young family demographic is moving to towns like these, and retail users have taken notice. This has resulted in large retail projects like Renaissance Marketplace in Rialto and the Station in Eastvale taking shape. Turning to …

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By Jake Corrigan, Sansone Group As we reflect on the tumultuous year of 2020 and the COVID-19 restrictions that decimated the retail real estate sector, those of us on the industrial side of the equation are breathing a sigh of relief. While there have been small pockets of industrial users and owners that have been adversely affected, the industrial market has remained strong as a sector. We anticipate this trend to continue. Statistics continue to show the conversion of the brick-and-mortar shopper to online is on the fast track. In the last 10 years, the meteoric shift to online shopping has increased from 7 percent in 2010 to just under 25 percent at the end of 2020, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. COVID-19 has forced the otherwise reluctant online shopper to shop for goods they had never thought to have delivered to their door. As a result, online retailers have dramatically improved web-based interfacing and ease of shopping.     Active development These realities have supply chain experts, third-party logistics (3PL) companies, owner/users, and of course, mega online retailers clamoring for blocks of vacant space to house their inventories. Developers active in the St. Louis metropolitan statistical area (MSA) …

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By Mike Mixer, Colliers International – Las Vegas At the beginning of 2020, Las Vegas was anything but ugly. Nevada’s economy was one of the fastest growing in the country. Unemployment was the lowest ever at 3.6 percent, while casinos reported three straight months of $1 billion in winnings. Then COVID came along and things got real ugly, real quick. The entire Las Vegas Strip was shut down, closed…on less than a day’s notice. The Las Vegas unemployment rate hit a staggering 34.2 percent. One out of three people in Las Vegas became unemployed in April 2020. Meanwhile, the last time the Strip was shut down was after the JFK assassination in 1963. The bad doesn’t look so bad compared to the ugly. As the year comes to a close, the Las Vegas Strip has reopened, but with fewer visitors. Low visitor demand hits hard in a city with more than 150,000 rooms. Las Vegas hotel occupancy has dropped from 90 percent down to 44 percent. Room rates have seen a milder drop this year, down only 6.77 percent (from $133 a night to $124 a night). The Las Vegas Gaming Market was also unlucky, especially without a robust convention …

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By Richard Lee and J.C. Casillas, NAI Capital Commercial In the fourth quarter of 2020, the Inland Empire industrial market continued to battle the effects of an economy that has so far spent three-fourths of the year under a COVID-19 shutdown. After dipping for several quarters, the average asking rent held steady at $0.72 triple net, down 6.5 percent from the fourth quarter of 2019. The vacancy rate nudged up 10 basis points from the previous quarter’s record low, down 90 basis points from the fourth quarter of 2019 to 3.9 percent. Pointing to the market’s resilience this time around, vacancy remains 8.4 percentage points lower than the prior peak, which hit in the third quarter of 2009 during the Great Recession. There has been exponential growth in demand for ecommerce due to COVID-19 and related industries, such as packaging and third party logistics. This has resulted in a fast recovery for the Inland Empire industrial market. Soaring demand for warehouse and distribution space has created opportunities for developers. The vacancy rate has increased, due to the 1.9 million square feet of completed construction added to the market in the fourth quarter of 2020. Since the first quarter of this …

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Hudson-Yards

By Kristin Hiller and Taylor Williams Retail and restaurant reopenings this fall gave a modest boost to the New York City retail market in the third quarter. But even with the easing of some operational restrictions, business activity remains diminished in a city known for its hustle and bustle. Both retail tenants and landlords have had to regroup and quickly adapt to the curveballs thrown at them by COVID-19 over the past nine months. While retail and restaurant users in some areas are finding more success than others, the market as a whole has been characterized by falling rents and a pronounced shift to delivering goods, services and experiences through different channels. In order to get a better handle on current market conditions and the outlook for 2021, Northeast Real Estate Business spoke with retail real estate experts in New York City, Northern New Jersey and surrounding markets. Submarket Fortunes Vary Without question, the city’s retail market is still suffering from a lack of office workers and a reduced tourist population as a result of COVID-19. According to recent data from CBRE, through September, the average office re-occupancy rate in Manhattan was 11 percent, meaning that roughly 89 percent of …

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By Claire Blevins and Collin Devaney, NAI Brannen Goddard We’ve all seen the depressing commercial real estate news stories about the state of the office market, with words like “bleak,” “hazy” or “obsolete” in the headlines. Questions surround every major market, including Atlanta — a metro market known for its dependable economy and robust demand. Admittedly, Atlanta has had its struggles during the pandemic, like slow leasing activity and rising rental rates, but not everything is doom and gloom. New City Properties, in the middle of breaking ground on Mailchimp’s new headquarters, announced it was upping the budget to prepare for future pandemics, including setting money aside for technology that is not even available yet. Other developers are choosing to prioritize private green space over expensive machinery. Midtown’s new Norfolk Southern headquarters, opening by the third quarter of 2021, takes advantage of its 3.4-acre lot by developing a campus-style hub filled with parks and a rooftop garden. Employees who utilize these outdoor spaces decrease the risk of airborne transmissions, as well as promote healthy habits. Not every office building has the room for large outdoor forums, so other owners are doing away with cubicles and building out private offices. Or …

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Commercial real estate sentiment has returned to pre-pandemic levels, according to NAIOP’s fall 2021 survey. Those views are good news for the commercial real estate industry generally, and the metro Atlanta office market is helping to provide some impressive specifics behind the rising optimism. At 2 million square feet of office space, Atlanta led the country in positive absorption in third-quarter 2021, approximately 700,000 square feet ahead of No. 3 market New York City, according to Colliers International research. Atlanta’s relatively low costs, attractive weather, growing demographics and educated labor force are big advantages for the city’s economy and office market. Metro Atlanta ranked No. 8 for year-over-year job growth in August among the largest U.S. metro areas with an increase of 124,300 new jobs, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Atlanta recorded an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent that month for the market, 210 basis points lower the national figure. Atlanta also ranks No. 8 nationally for tech talent, according to CBRE, with total tech occupations having increased 15.2 percent from 2015 to 2020. Savills cited Atlanta’s highest growth rate for technology-related graduates in the country, a big draw for innovative companies looking to relocate to or …

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River-Park-Austin

By Taylor Williams With widespread vaccination several months away and the federal government having passed additional relief legislation, the end of the COVID-19 pandemic appears to be in sight. To that end, retailers and restaurants that have survived the public health crisis can, with some reservations, start to look toward the rebound phase. Because there’s no question that American consumers are itching to make up for lost eating, drinking and socializing time, provided they can do so in what they feel are safe environments. “Our biggest point of optimism for 2021 lies in the fact that people want to go out, eat, shop and be entertained,” says Lucas Patterson, executive vice president at metro-Dallas based Bright Realty. “As we continue to respond to the pandemic, people are increasingly ready to get out of their homes, be with others, eat at restaurants, have drinks and listen to music. We believe we can offer those opportunities as soon as the time is right.” “Looking forward, our biggest source of positivity involves consumers’ built-up savings and pent-up demand for human connection in a more normal existence,” adds Terri Montesi, CEO of Trademark Property Co, the developer behind mixed-use projects such as Victory Park …

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Eatontown-Office

By Jonathan Glick, executive vice president, Sheldon Gross Realty Projecting future trends is always challenging, particularly when you’re attempting to do it during a global pandemic. But to date, several promising signs suggest that New Jersey’s office market is moving in a positive direction —sluggishly and bumpily, perhaps — but in an encouraging direction nonetheless. Newly delivered projects can provide insight on where the Garden State’s office market is headed in terms of geography, design, functionality and usage. We offer several examples of 2020 deals that help illustrate these trends. Sheldon Gross marketed and brokered the sale of a two-story 13,000-square-foot office building in Cranbury that featured an appealing location, just off exit 8A of the New Jersey Turnpike. The structure had been for sale and vacant for two years, but its out-of-state owner was willing to wait until a fair market offer materialized, which it did just prior to the COVID-19 outbreak. But with the pandemic unleashed on the market,  all communication and negotiations ceased. By May, the prospective purchaser had withdrawn from the transaction. It wasn’t until September that a new deal was negotiated with a buyer that intended to occupy most of the building, rather than sharing …

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