Market Reports

Seattle’s Demographics, Economy Make It Attractive to Industrial Users

by Taylor Williams August 10, 2019

Seattle has always been a strong industrial market, known for its busy ports and, more recently, its position as one of the most successful tech hubs outside of Silicon Valley. As the global economy continues to shift toward the Internet of things (IoT), Seattle industrial space is catapulting into a new category of demand. That growth is spurred on by companies like Microsoft, Amazon and Google, which continue to expand their footprints here and generate a growing inflow of technology, population and industrial requirements. The ports of Seattle and Tacoma were ranked among the busiest in the nation at the end of 2018. They collectively processed nearly 3 million TEUs (or 20-foot equivalent shipping container unit) in volume. Year-over-year, Seattle’s TEU has also grown by 27.5 percent, one of the fastest growth rates of all U.S ports. This activity has kept the Puget Sound industrial vacancy rate at 4.9 percent as of the second quarter of 2019. Industrial inventory in close-in areas of South Seattle like the Georgetown submarket has tightened to an even lower 1 percent vacancy rate. Rents, meanwhile, have increased north of $1.20 per square foot as more and more buildings are converted to creative office and …

August 10, 2019

Market Reports Multifamily Washington Western Western Market Reports

Seattle’s Multifamily Market Is Firing on All Cylinders

by Taylor Williams August 9, 2019

Notions of Seattle as a grunge-rock town with logging roots are in the rear-view mirror. While Seattle’s past is marked by the 1850s Klondike Gold Rush, 1970s Boeing Bust and 1990s Microsoft Millionaires run, today’s economy is dotted with news of exceptional growth from Apple, Amazon, Facebook, Google and Salesforce. To say that Seattle’s economy is both booming and diversified is an understatement. A benefactor of such continued growth is the regional rental market. Jobs, Jobs, Jobs Ecommerce juggernaut Amazon has assembled 12 million square feet of Class A office space in Downtown Seattle over the past several years. Now, Bellevue — not more than 10 miles from Downtown Seattle — is receiving attention from Amazon with commitments for 2 million square feet. Adding to that, Apple is committing to more than 625,000 square feet of office space; Facebook’s footprint is around 2.7 million square feet; and Salesforce has chosen Seattle as its second global headquarters. Given high wages and more economical for-rent and for-sale office and housing space (on a relative basis), it’s no surprise Seattle still has runway for sustainable economic growth. Development Pipeline Apartment developers seized upon Seattle’s modern day Gold Rush. Developers added 55,000 apartment units …

August 9, 2019

Florida Market Reports Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Miami is Defying Nation’s Retail Woes With Thriving Malls, Shopping Centers

by Alex Tostado August 9, 2019

While there are mass retail closings around the country, in Miami, there is typically someone waiting on space to become available. Think about it: In Miami, there is actually a shortage of retail space. Uber luxury markets in Miami are performing extremely well with Bal Harbour Shops (owned by Whitman Family Development) being one of the top retail complexes in the country, followed closely by Dadeland Mall and Aventura Mall. These malls are continuously reinvented and expanded, adding various entertainment and diverse dining options to their multi-level retail outlets. The Dolphin Mall, a 1.4 million-square-foot mixed-used complex owned by Taubman Cos., continues to be its No. 1 performing mall in the country, with over 240 retail shops, dining and entertainment venues to choose from including Bass Pro Shops Outdoor World, Cobb Dolphin 19 Cinema, The Cheesecake Factory, Dave and Buster’s, Texas de Brazil, Bloomingdales The Outlet Store, Neiman Marcus Last Call and Saks Fifth Avenue OFF 5th. Miami is cruising There are several factors driving this phenomenon. First, Miami International Airport traffic is setting month-over-month and year-over-year records, according to the Greater Miami Convention and Visitors Bureau. Traffic in February 2019 was 5.7 percent higher compared to February 2018. Cruise …

August 9, 2019

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Ohio Retail

Cleveland Adapts to Changing Retail Landscape

by Kristin Harlow August 8, 2019

“The retail landscape is changing.” How many times have we, industry professionals especially, heard these words over the past several years? But the reality is, it’s true. There have been countless articles, blogs and lectures blitzing us with arguments supporting or arguing against the notion that brick-and-mortar retail is fighting a losing battle against a burgeoning e-commerce industry. As many of us in the industry know, brick-and-mortar stores still hold a 90 percent market share of retail sales. While that number is shrinking, it is shrinking at a slower pace with each passing quarter. So, rather than talking about e-commerce and its potential negative impact on physical stores, I’d prefer to focus on the categories that are thriving, and in many cases benefiting from e-commerce. The fact is that pressures of e-commerce, coupled with changing consumer preferences driven by millennials and Gen Z, have forced retailers to adapt. The Cleveland market is an excellent microcosm of this retail evolution that has swept through the U.S. Here are the most notable retail trends in Cleveland. Health and beauty Perhaps the hottest category in retail right now is health and beauty. In plain terms, Americans today, more than ever, value being healthy …

August 8, 2019

Market Reports New York Northeast Market Reports Office

Manhattan’s Office Market Thrives as Top-Tier Tenants Flock to Midtown

by Taylor Williams August 7, 2019

Driven by activity in the office sector, commercial real estate in Manhattan is having one of its best years on record. The overwhelming demand for Manhattan office space has led to a surge in office-using employment and an accelerated pace of construction. In addition, the success and appeal of the new Hudson Yards project has breathed new life into the borough’s office market, with developers unable to keep up with the demand. The continued expansion in the technology and coworking sectors is reshaping the market. Companies are willing to pay a premium to snag office space that attracts top-tier, tech-savvy talent. This trend has caused office asking rents to rise to record levels. By The Numbers CBRE data shows that average asking rents for Midtown Manhattan office space reached $88 per square foot in the second quarter of 2019, 9.1 percent higher than the previous year. Class A office space commands even more, surpassing the $100 per square foot mark in desirable submarkets like Hudson Yards, Times Square or the Plaza District. The Midtown vacancy rate decreased 10 basis points to 12.2 percent, the lowest in 18 years, according to CBRE, while the past quarter saw 14.7 million square feet …

August 7, 2019

Florida Market Reports Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Farewell Boom-Bust Cycle: Miami Office Market Ascends as the City Matures

by Alex Tostado August 7, 2019

For decades, the real estate market in Miami has been either boom or bust. Lately, the market has been on an impressive expansion cycle, with new office development following aggressive lease rate increases that in some areas have risen as much as 20 percent in total the past few years. As investors and users witness the growth in South Florida, the market has seen a significant amount of new development as rental rates continued to climb. The quick expansion, and arguably over-development, has left some investors wondering if a bust is inevitable with such a crowded market. In many metro areas, a bust would be a logical result. However, South Florida has become more mature as a corporate center, leading many industry leaders to see Miami’s future as a more consistent, stable market of growth rather than one with a constant pattern of boom and bust. As South Florida matures with a diverse range of investors and users, adapts to industry disruptors and addresses transportation issues, the office market is moving into a pattern of more stable growth, with no bust on the horizon. Leasing, sales activity In the first quarter of 2019, the office market saw 1.1 million square …

August 7, 2019

Florida Industrial Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Distribution, Warehouse Demand Continues to Outpace Supply in South Florida

by Alex Tostado August 5, 2019

Miami-Dade continues to be propelled by persistent economic growth, bustling port activity, positive investor sentiment and strong leasing, creating a perfect recipe for industrial demand. Following its most successful year ever in 2018, PortMiami broke records yet again in first-quarter 2019, recording its highest ever monthly cargo activity amount in January with a total of 104,183 twenty-foot equivalents (TEUs) of containerized cargo, a 17 percent increase over January 2018. Meanwhile, a $437.5 million expansion project, the largest ever, is planned for Port Everglades in nearby Broward County. The positive fundamentals reverberate throughout the overall South Florida market. Despite the differing industrial inventories of each South Florida market with Miami-Dade County at 186.2 million square feet, Broward County at 96.9 million square feet and Palm Beach County at 39 million square feet, demand for space across the region has fueled unprecedented development activity. Logistics, e-commerce Net industrial absorption in Miami-Dade was impressive during the first quarter, posting positive 1.2 million square feet, a notable 45 percent increase from the net absorption recorded for first-quarter 2018. Several (mostly) preleased, speculative developments contributed to the spike in net absorption. Demand trends against development indicate healthy industrial markets in Broward and Palm Beach as …

August 5, 2019

Market Reports Office Washington Western Western Market Reports

Lack of New Office Supply Pushes Large Users to Tertiary Puget Sound Markets

by Taylor Williams August 2, 2019

A decade ago, the Seattle office market was still reeling from the effects of the global recession. Total downtown vacancy had reached 14.9 percent with nearly every submarket from the Central Business District (CBD) to Lake Union experiencing some form of negative absorption. Total vacancy today is slightly more than half of what it was back then, hovering at around 7.7 percent. This is despite the total net rentable area growing by more than 11 million square feet. Seattle has also shifted from largely being considered a secondary market to one of the leading real estate hubs in the nation, thanks to consistent talent and demand from the engineering, aerospace and technology industries. Seattle currently ranks second behind San Francisco in our annual Scoring Tech Talent report. And yet, while our extensive growth has been a benefit to the office market, a new problem has cropped up in the face of this progress: availability. The rise of coworking, as well as the surplus of partial floor spaces, has been a benefit to smaller companies in the midst of early stage growth and expansion. In fact, there are more than 700 options in Downtown Seattle for smaller tenants, primarily under 15,000 …

August 2, 2019

Market Reports Northeast Northeast Market Reports

Opportunity Zones Sound Good, But Investors Wait for Details, Deals

by Taylor Williams July 31, 2019

The 2017 tax overhaul was supposed to spur $100 billion in investments across the country through the designation of more than 8,700 areas as Opportunity Zones. Investors could reduce or postpone taxes on profit from businesses, partnerships and stocks by reinvesting in the Opportunity Zones. They could also avoid future profits from those reinvestments, provided they make substantial improvements. To get the full benefit, investors would have to buy into eligible projects by the end of 2019. To fully shelter 2018 profits from hedge funds and other partnerships, the deadline was June 29. The land rush hasn’t started. In January, only half of real estate investors surveyed by research firm Preqin were considering investing in Opportunity Zones. More than 90 percent weren’t even involved in an Opportunity Zone project at the time of the survey. The biggest reason for the hesitation is that the rules to take advantage of Opportunity Zones have only begun to be clarified. The IRS and Treasury Department haven’t released the type of detailed guidance that investors need before they are confident enough to move forward. Final regulations on the zones were delayed by the government shutdown earlier this year and have yet to be made …

July 31, 2019

Market Reports Texas Market Reports

Heavy Capital Flow Fuels Deal Velocity

by Taylor Williams July 30, 2019

Debt and equity capital for placement in commercial real estate, particularly in the multifamily sector, have never been more plentiful in Texas. With the Federal Reserve recently abandoning and possibly getting set to reverse its interest rate hikes, even more investors and borrowers are coming off the sidelines. According to the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), the national level of commercial mortgage debt outstanding rose by $45.4 billion in the first quarter of 2019, a 1.3 percent increase from the fourth quarter of 2018. Multifamily mortgage debt alone increased by $17.9 billion to $1.4 trillion from the fourth quarter of 2018, also an increase of 1.3 percent. The uptick in lending is occurring in the face of an ongoing trade war with China and the elevation of the three-month Treasury yield (2.14 percent as of press time) above the two-year Treasury yield (1.74 percent). Economists often view the latter trend, known as an inverted yield curve, as an indicator of recession, a credible possibility given that the U.S. economy is close to a decades-long expansion. The perceived risk in the marketplace from these factors has steered more investors toward the 10-year Treasury, a traditionally low-risk vehicle for parking funds. This movement …

July 30, 2019

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