Market Reports

Port Authorities in Charleston, Savannah are Pushing the Boundaries

by John Nelson January 30, 2023

As port authorities around the country invest billions of dollars in infrastructural improvements, industrial users are taking notice and looking for sites near all the action. In the Southeast, the elevated demand for new industrial space near the Port of Savannah and Port of Charleston is pushing the boundaries as far as what’s considered normal levels for property performance indicators such as new construction, rent growth and leasing activity. “It’s hard to say that anything is ‘normal’ right now — there are a lot of new phenomena out there,” says Robert Barrineau, senior vice president of CBRE’s Charleston office. “We are seeing nationally now that a tie to a seaport as being key for economic growth and for operational efficiencies for companies.” In one of the bigger announcements in 2022, Hyundai Motor Group chose a 3,000-acre site in Bryan County, which is close to both the Port of Savannah and Interstate 95, for its $5.5 billion manufacturing plant. Construction is already underway, and the facility should be operating at full capacity, which entails production of 300,000 units annually, by the first half of 2025. The South Korean automotive giant intends to use a combination of local labor and AI technology …

January 30, 2023

Industrial Market Reports Nevada Western Western Market Reports

Las Vegas Industrial Market Surprisingly Resilient Amid Economic Headwinds

by Jeff Shaw January 27, 2023

By Dean Willmore, Executive Vice President; Kyle Kirchmeier, Associate; Alex Stanisic, Vice President; and Laura Wilhelm, Senior Field Research Analyst, CBRE Las Vegas’ current industrial market is surprisingly resilient. There is, of course, a possibility of planned projects being put on hold or not moving forward at all due to rising inflation and economic uncertainty, but leasing activity hasn’t slowed. Regardless of never-before-seen rent growth, record-low vacancy and a marked increase in asking lease rates every 60 days, the market still may not have peaked. As of the third quarter of 2022, the average asking lease rate was $1.19 per square foot (triple net), and the overall vacancy rate remained at a very low 1 percent. However, industrial/flex space in the 2,000- to 5,000-square-foot range, which is still dealing with the effects of the pandemic, has shown no noticeable rent growth. Some landlords are even offering leasing incentives to attract tenants. If the market contracts in 2023, smaller tenants in this size range will be the first to see its effects. Nearly half of the 17 million square feet under construction during the third quarter was pre-leased, and nearly 80 percent of those projects were in North Las Vegas. The largest lease of the quarter occurred in the submarket, with …

January 27, 2023

Life Sciences Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri

Life Sciences Sector in St. Louis: Building on a Legacy

by Kristin Harlow January 26, 2023

By Scott Dunwoody, Cushman & Wakefield It’s not too much of a stretch to say that St. Louis’ life sciences sector dates back to Lewis & Clark’s Corps of Discovery and all the scientific findings revealed upon their return to the city in 1806. More than two centuries later, St. Louis remains at the forefront of life sciences. The region is a center of plant science research and a cornerstone of global agriculture technology, with institutions such as Washington University in St. Louis (WashU) and St. Louis University playing critical roles in the biotech and medical fields. These factors translate into significant economic development benefits for the region and a positive impact on the area’s commercial real estate market. St. Louis is home to the largest concentration of plant scientist PhDs in the world. All that talent supports and drives more than 750 plant and medical science organizations across the region, including large employers such as Bayer (formerly Monsanto), Bunge, Benson Hill, IFF, Novus and Pfizer, and has led to significant investments throughout the region. What’s more, St. Louis ranks No. 14 nationally in National Institutes of Health funding, having secured more than $3.3 billion in the past five years. …

January 26, 2023

Market Reports North Carolina Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Raleigh-Durham Office Market is Facing Even Stronger Headwinds at Start of 2023

by John Nelson January 25, 2023

Talk to any commercial broker across the Raleigh-Durham market and you will hear much of the same feedback. In answer to the basic questions, one hears, “The in-office work week is now three days, primarily Tuesday through Thursday.” This trend, which was slowly becoming more evident over the last 20 years with the growth of the digital economy, was accelerated by the pandemic. And further aided by the wider availability of high-speed internet, the demands of the digital workforce are taking people out of their offices and, in some cases, around the world. Companies that value their digital workers are letting them make business decisions that affect the office building markets around the world. It is fascinating to watch. Recent data published by Kastle Systems (a keycard and security supplier for commercial buildings) shows that based on keycard swipes across the 10 largest cities in the United States, we are witnessing structural change in both the traditional work week and employee work hours, in degrees that are directly impacting the need for office space. As a result, employers are downsizing their leased footprints, opting for less square footage and/or shorter leases. Those companies with large numbers of digital workers are …

January 25, 2023

Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Survey: Industry Professionals in Texas Voice Major Concerns Over Interest Rates in 2023

by Taylor Williams January 24, 2023

By Taylor Williams If inflation was the story of 2022, then basic economic theory dictates that interest rate hikes and their subsequent impacts will be the featured issue of 2023. For when it comes to whipping inflation, the Federal Reserve only has so many tools in its kit. The nation’s central bank can raise reserve requirements for lenders and sell Treasury notes all day long, but nothing has as direct and powerful of an effect on the monetary supply as movement in short-term interest rates. Simply put, higher interest rates discourage borrowing activity, which reduces the amount of money circulating in the system. In the past 12 months, the U.S. economy has seen no fewer than seven rate hikes totaling 425 basis points, with the Fed indicating that more increases are on the docket for 2023. Much like severe inflation itself, the rate hikes that inevitably follow rampant price escalation tend to touch nearly every facet of commercial real estate. Developers and investors respectively face higher interest rates on construction and acquisition loans. Brokers must adjust prices on properties they’re listing for sale or rent in response to these variables. End users tend to be somewhat insulated from these impacts, …

January 24, 2023

Agora-Mixed-Use-Project-North-Las-Vegas-NV

Market Reports Nevada Retail Western Western Market Reports

Today’s Las Vegas Retail Market Reflects Positive Trends Amid Uncertainty

by Jeff Shaw January 20, 2023

By Cathy Jones, Founder and CEO, Sun Commercial The 2022 Las Vegas retail market can be characterized by a generally positive outlook and some strong trends, even in the face of market uncertainty. A few of these core trends are quite interesting. Market research shows significant upward trends in asking rents, decreases in vacancy and certain key indicators driving this process. When broken down further, we find that these trends are emphasized in certain geographic areas more than others. The Southwest Las Vegas Valley submarket is seeing the greatest change in growth and development, followed closely by Henderson/Southeast. As an example, 93,592 square feet of retail space was constructed in the third quarter alone in the Southwest and Henderson; 91.2 percent of this space was pre-leased. The current amount of net absorption in the total market is 1.3 million square feet year to date. Half of this annual total occurred in the Southwest and Southeast submarkets. These two markets saw an explosion of growth driven largely by the housing boom. As new developments are constructed and homes sold, retail developments expand to meet that growing demand. There is more compartmentalization, however, than in the past with more community-oriented unanchored strip centers dominating the …

January 20, 2023

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri Office

In St. Louis’ Post-Pandemic Office Market, Quality Is Key

by Kristin Harlow January 19, 2023

By Artie Kerckhoff and Joshua Allen, CBRE For businesses, the conversation around the return to office has shifted. Most companies find themselves considering how to entice workers back instead of when to call them back. It’s an interesting dynamic, born out of stopgap remote-working policies and catalyzed by an employee’s market. Where does this leave the St. Louis office market? The metro’s overall office vacancy rate remained steady at 12.9 percent at the end of the third quarter. Yet, leasing velocity has shown significant improvement with leases signed at newly constructed buildings like Forsyth Pointe & Commerce Tower in Clayton and Edge@West in Creve Coeur. In addition, a handful of tenants have signed new leases at existing prime Class A, amenity-rich buildings such as Centene Plaza C Building, The Plaza in Clayton and Shaw Park Plaza. The reason for this uptick is a trend that’s playing out in St. Louis and across the country: an overall flight to quality. Prime at a premium At the onset of the pandemic, office users signed short-term extensions and took a wait-and-see approach to get through the immediate crisis. Now, as those extensions expire, they’re migrating to prime Class A office space with collaborative, …

January 19, 2023

Industrial Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Houston’s Outlying Submarkets Offer Promising Industrial Opportunities

by Taylor Williams January 17, 2023

By David Ebro, president of Levey Group Despite the nearly 6.4 million square feet of new project starts during the fourth quarter of 2022, which grew the volume of Houston’s industrial space currently under construction to 33.5 million square feet, the market posted a record 30.3 million square feet of net absorption for the year. This activity drove Houston’s vacancy rate down to 3.8 percent — a decline of 220 basis points from the end of 2021. The remarkable growth throughout the Houston MSA — the nation’s fourth-largest metropolitan area — has developers racing to find buildable sites both within and beyond the city limits. As a result, industrial development is bulging out of the city and into submarkets such as Baytown, Richmond and Brookshire as developers pursue more economically feasible land among these growing population centers. Beyond favorable land opportunities, Houston’s outlying submarkets offer the workforces that tenants require for their warehouse and distribution operations. These growing submarkets are also generating an increasing amount of demand from e-commerce users in the consumer goods sector. Record Growth East of Houston Much of the industrial growth can be found east of town, near and along the Houston Ship Channel. For the …

January 17, 2023

District of Columbia Market Reports Multifamily Southeast Southeast Market Reports

D.C. Multifamily Remains a Safe Haven for Investment Amid Economic Uncertainty

by John Nelson January 16, 2023

Across the country, investors are facing some difficult hurdles. Rising interest rates, impending economic recession and rising construction costs are making it increasingly difficult for proposed deals to penicl out for investors. These issues, coupled with a swath of non-performing loans that are nearing maturity, have been the first indications we have seen of a bear market in the real estate world, and there are no signs of improvement in the near future. In times of uncertainty, we often see investors adhere to a conservative approach to investment, which normally means increased focus on core markets and assets. One area of focus in which investors have remained bullish is Washington, D.C.’s multifamily market as it continues to thrive, despite turmoil in the larger U.S. economy. Developers broke ground on new multifamily product in excess of 4,000 units for the fourth consecutive quarter, a first for the D.C. market. Multifamily sales volume has not quite matched the bull market of 2021; however, sales in 2022 still outpace most years in the metro’s history. Whether it’s construction on ground-up development of multifamily product, or the purchase of existing multifamily product, the D.C market has not shown any signs of slowing down. For …

January 16, 2023

Market Reports Nevada Office Western Western Market Reports

Las Vegas’ Office Market is on the Road to Quality

by Jeff Shaw January 13, 2023

By Patti Dillon, SIOR, Senior Vice President, Colliers While the key measures of the Southern Nevada economy have improved since the COVID lockdowns, some have improved more than others. The future of the office market is strong, but it will be weighted toward newer Class A mixed-use office assets. Employers are feeling the pressure to attract and retain the best talent in a tight labor market. There are plenty of vacant positions. However, available and willing workers are still scarce, which is driving the need for office locations of employers to be more inviting. According to DETR, Southern Nevada’s office job market added 24,000 jobs between May 2021 and May 2022. Unemployment in the Las Vegas-Paradise MSA was 5.2 percent in May 2022. Over the past 12 months, total employment in Southern Nevada increased by 87,100 jobs, a 3 percent increase. After experiencing a significant expansion last quarter, Southern Nevada’s office market cooled at midyear. Net absorption remained positive, at 45,443 square feet, but did not keep pace with the 129,272 square feet of new development. This lifted vacancy to 12.7 percent this quarter from 12.5 percent one quarter ago. Asking rental rates increased to $2.37 per square foot on a full-service …

January 13, 2023

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