Home to nearly 850,000 people and rapidly growing, the City of San Francisco is packed into a little less than 47 square miles. Having long been known as one of the primary financial, tech and cultural hubs of the United States, San Francisco is a place where many people want to be. Business is booming, companies are competing for employees, and the city is as culturally vibrant as ever. It seems like every week there is another article about San Francisco topping another a “best of” list. Supply, Demand, Rent Control Every city endures growing pains during times of economic expansion – new construction, rising rents and home prices – not to mention added stress to the local public infrastructure. The supply of housing in San Francisco remains relatively static for various reasons, with strict building and zoning regulations, a comparatively fixed supply of buildable land and the added complications surrounding the development of real estate in a densely populated, coastal city. On the flipside, demand for housing, which most consider a necessity, is highly inelastic. This is due to the average per-capita income for San Francisco residents, which is about 80 percent higher than the average per-capita of the …
The Washington, D.C. metro multifamily housing sector has continued to demonstrate resiliency and recovery in the midst of the clamor in the media over the last year, which has caused many to believe otherwise. Multifamily has enjoyed declining rental vacancy levels the last three of four years ending in 2013, and only nominal increases during 2014, according to Reis. The eagerness of developers to capitalize on the absorption and flowing capital markets of the D.C. multifamily market has left some speculators concerned that the established strength of the fundamentals will be eroded by oversupply and ultimately lead to flat or negative rent growth and high vacancy rates. While 2014 has come with a stream of new developments hitting the D.C. metro, absorption remains steady and in some cases outperforming expectations. New product has been consumed as quickly as new developments are delivered. The D.C. metro market absorption is on track to exceed its record of units absorbed in a year, which was reached in 2010, already absorbing 4,904 out of the 6,516 units delivered year-to-date, according to Reis. This continued strength of the multifamily market is further evidenced by higher levels of demand for Class A luxury units, as shown …
The Seattle-Tacoma metro area is one of the top-performing multifamily commercial real estate markets in the nation. Locally, employers are adding jobs at one of the fastest paces in the country, supporting a strong rental market in the region. In Tacoma, State Farm and other companies have energized the area’s economy and strengthened its apartment operations. In Seattle, companies like Amazon, Zillow and Julep Beauty are supporting new job growth, and many of these new job opportunities are attracting young workers who need apartments. There were 8,800 jobs were created in the metro in the beginning of the year. About 130,000 workers were added to payrolls over the past three years. The primary renter cohort of residents between the ages of 20 and 34 years old grew nearly twice as fast as the metro population in 2013, greatly increasing the need for apartments. This year, strong job growth will also support demand for area rentals as the total jobs in the metro will rise nearly 4 percent above the pre-recession high. While there are plenty of new jobs, the median household income needed to qualify for a mortgage on a median-priced home in the metro is $83,150, assuming a 20 …
The Washington, D.C. metropolitan area’s retail market is expected to continue to perform as well as or better than any other retail market in the nation. Ranked the seventh-largest Metropolitan Statistical Area (MSA) in the United States, Washington boasts a dizzying amount of retail growth in existing and emerging neighborhoods. Household incomes in the area grew by 42 percent from 2000 to 2013, compared to just 27 percent nationally. The highly educated and affluent population is driving urban mixed-use developments across the region. According to the National Association of Realtors, Washington led the nation in the Millennials’ share of the local population, at 15.7 percent. Millennials are demanding authentic experiences in residential living, shopping, restaurants and entertainment. Cranes can be seen everywhere with 30,000 apartment units under construction, many with prevailing urban feel above retail. This trend is common in the redevelopment on H Street, the corridor between Union Station and 17th Street Northeast that has been undergoing redevelopment in the last half dozen years. During this time both Giant Food and Walmart have opened stores under apartment buildings in this neighborhood, which Forbes lists as one of the “hippest” areas in the United States. Insight Property Group just broke …
Texarkana, riding a long-term economic boom with perfect positioning between Dallas and Little Rock, has enjoyed growth fueled by billions of dollars in external interstate projects, including I-30, I-369 and I-49, and hundreds of millions of dollars on the redevelopment of the city’s interstate infrastructure. An abundance of water has secured large-scale industrial developments including the recently opened John W. Turk Jr. Power Plant, Domtar and International Paper. Red River Army Depot (RRAD), the largest employer between Dallas and Little Rock, facilitates one of the largest wheeled and tracked military vehicle manufacturing centers in the world. RRAD coexists with TexAmericas Center, the largest industrial park in Texas, to offer an unmatched land resource of 12,000 acres along with abundant rail access. Texarkana’s strategic positioning, coupled with three interstates, ample rail and the proposed Red River Navigation Project, ensures long-term economic viability. H. Ross Perot, Texarkana’s native son, has endowed millions of dollars to the city’s education, the arts, scouting and the Salvation Army to name a few. Perot has been a major contributor to Texarkana College and Texas A&M University-Texarkana, helping facilitate the expansion of A&M’s four-year university programs to their new Bringle Lake campus, with a strong focus on …
A blistering cold winter lingered into the late spring and left the commercial real estate market in the Grand Traverse region frozen. Businesses waited for the market and the temperatures to thaw, and a third-quarter surge has activity back on track. From Jan. 1 through Sept. 30, property sales totaled $10.3 million and 221,136 square feet, including 118,515 square feet of industrial/warehouse buildings, 79,463 square feet of professional/medical office space, and 23,158 square feet of retail/restaurant space. That‘s slightly ahead of last year’s pace. During the first three quarters of 2013, property sales totaled $9.9 million and 207,845 square feet, including 121,469 square feet of industrial/warehouse buildings, 44,160 square feet of professional/medical office space, and 42,216 square feet of retail/restaurant space. The office sector posted about a 9 percent increase in the average sales per square foot during the first three quarters of 2014, while the industrial warehouse market recorded an increase of approximately 5 percent. The retail/ restaurant sector saw a 9 percent drop in the average sales per square foot The reduction in the average sales price in the retail/restaurant market sector is mostly due to the lack of quality inventory. This lack of inventory in our market …
Seattle has come a long way since the 1971 billboard reading “will the last person leaving Seattle turn the lights off?” The greater Seattle economy and real estate market has continued to be one of the nation’s top- performing locales, even exceeding its prior 2007 peak. Large corporations such as Amazon, Boeing, Microsoft and Starbucks, along with many independent startup companies, have rapidly reduced the unemployment rate, which has dropped to 4.8 percent. The construction pipeline in Seattle remains robust. With more than 20 cranes working on new developments, the market has the most active projects underway since the Downtown Seattle Associations started tracking development in 2005. Nearly two-thirds of construction in Seattle is residential, with more than 5,000 new apartment units opening since January 2013, and more than 6,000 new units to be completed in the next three years, according to the DSA report. During the past year, the amount of office space under construction has nearly doubled from 1.7 million square feet to more than 3.2 million square feet. A large contributor to this is Amazon’s revitalization of the South Lake Union area. Amazon’s global workforce has doubled in the past two years, and the company is reportedly …
The Charlotte MSA has seen a tremendous amount of new retail development activity with more on the way as 2014 comes to an end. Market vacancy has steadily declined since 2010 as new supply of space has been overshadowed by demand. The drop in the unemployment rate in the past 12 months to 6.3 percent from 7.2 percent reflects the improving health of the market. One of the more exciting and significant retail developments to debut in Charlotte this year is the Charlotte Premium Outlets development at the I-485/Highway 160 interchange in southwest Charlotte. Tanger Development and Simon Property Group joined forces to deliver this 450,000-square-foot, open-air center, which opened to large crowds in late July at close to 100 percent occupancy. It is anchored by a 30,000-square-foot Saks Off Fifth, and includes a full complement of more upscale and moderate specialty retailers. Grocers Hungry for Market Share Grocery store activity has driven much of the new development and redevelopment in the Charlotte area, with Publix opening its first units in North Carolina. Publix premiered its Ballantyne store in the spring of the year and has since opened in other renovated locations it gained through its acquisition of a number …
San Francisco is a veritable boom town that has already surpassed the market roar of 1999. It can even conceivably be compared to 1849, when gold was discovered 100 miles east. In fact, this year is so utterly off the charts that most of us in the commercial real estate industry have never seen an upcycle like this in our entire careers. Witness the fact that through the first three quarters of 2014, San Francisco’s gross office absorption reached 7.6 million square feet. Net absorption in this same period was 2.4 million square feet. This compares with 1999, the record year, when gross absorption was 7.4 million square feet – and that was for the entire year! It is quite possible we’ll hit 10 million square feet of gross absorption by the time 2014 closes out. Incidentally, net absorption for 1999 was “only” 526,000 square feet. Not surprisingly, three out of the four biggest leases in the third quarter were completed by tech companies. The tech frenzy in San Francisco has been well documented. Most of the Silicon Valley companies want, or need, to have a presence in the city. The trend is employment-driven. Young techies don’t want to commute …
The office market of the Greater New Orleans area is gaining strength alongside the economy of the region. Continued infrastructure investment in and around New Orleans and a surging entrepreneurial spirit throughout the city have contributed to several significant economic development successes, which have resulted in consistent and positive national press about the region and sense of optimism in the general market. The impact of this optimism on the office market differs by submarket but has had the most measurable positive impact in the New Orleans central business district (CBD) and Metairie submarkets, which have the highest concentration of Class A office space. The office market in the New Orleans CBD is stable. This market has not yet experienced the consistent new tenant demand or existing tenant growth that would result in significantly higher rates, so the overall CBD market remains largely tenant-oriented with aggressive lease deals for credit tenants. However, there have been several regional economic successes like the attraction of GE Capital and Gameloft to the New Orleans CBD, as well as the renewal of major office leases such as Shell Oil (approximately 650,000 square feet), Capital One (approximately 150,000 square feet), and Freeport McMoRan (approximately 210,000 square …