— By Chris High, Steve Bruce and Conor Evans of Colliers — We’re in the middle of a market recalibration. On the office side, leasing has slowed significantly, with tenants downsizing footprints and pushing for shorter terms as hybrid work remains a dominant driver. In life sciences, we saw explosive growth from 2020 to mid-2022, but that pace has tapered off. VC funding is more selective, and some developers who stretched to convert commodity office and flex properties into lab space, often with less-than-ideal infrastructure, during the boom years, are now rethinking those strategies. Still, demand for high-quality, fitted lab space remains, especially in well-located projects by experienced owners like Longfellow, BioScience Properties, Sterling Bay, Healthpeak, BioMed, and ARE. These firms are adapting with thoughtful repositioning and delivering product that aligns with where tenant demand is today. In the near term, we expect continued headwinds. Commodity office space will face pressure on rents and absorption, while high-end life science campuses with strong sponsorship will be better positioned to attract demand. We expect Life Science to rebound in the next 12 to 18 months as capital markets settle and merger/acquisition (M&A) activity returns. Distressed office sales may continue as debt maturities …
— By Will Moss of MMG Real Estate Advisors — After a turbulent stretch marked by oversupply and softening rents, Salt Lake City’s multifamily market is showing signs of stabilization in early 2025. Demand is returning, rent declines are easing and investor confidence is on the rise, all pointing to a market that may have found its footing. “We’re not calling a full recovery just yet,” says Will Moss, sales agent at MMG Real Estate. “But what we’re seeing is a return to fundamentals, steady demand, measured construction and buyers who are ready to transact again.” In first-quarter 2025, net absorption reached 1,044 units, outpacing the 894 units delivered and marking the first time in over a year that demand exceeded new supply. Over the past 12 months, approximately 4,500 units were absorbed, well above the metro’s historical average. Demand Rebounds, But Challenges Linger Salt Lake City mirrors national trends where improved economic confidence and easing inflation have begun to unlock pent-up housing demand. Notably, demand has been strongest among mid-tier renters, though even luxury properties, despite being the main source of new supply, posted a 1.8 percent rent increase year-over-year. Still, rents overall declined 0.3 percent annually, continuing a …
— By Jason Koch and Adam Riddle of MMG Real Estate Advisors — espite recent challenges, the Denver multifamily market is showing clear signs of a comeback. With new supply beginning to taper off, demand accelerating, and investor confidence returning, 2025 is shaping up to be a year of renewed opportunity for multifamily owners and investors. Momentum Is Building Behind the Numbers After a year of downward pressure, Denver’s multifamily market is beginning to turn the corner. First-quarter 2025 recorded net absorption of 2,544 units, a 170 percent jump from the prior quarter indicating a surge of renter demand. Over the past 12 months, absorption reached 9,200 units, the highest total since 2021. MMG Managing Director Jason Koch notes, “Demand is back. Lease-ups are moving more quickly, especially for quality, well-located product. It’s clear that renters still want to be in Denver.” While average rent is down 3.4 percent year-over-year, the first quarterly uptick in nearly a year suggests the bottom may already be behind us. At $1,813, Denver remains one of the strongest-performing rental markets in the Mountain West, particularly in suburban pockets where new supply is limited. High-Quality Product Leading the Charge Much of the recent absorption has …
— By William (Bill) Froelich of Colliers — s of first-quarter 2025, Oahu’s industrial market remains one of the tightest in the nation — but signs of softening are emerging. Our 41.9 million square foot market reported a vacancy rate of 1.2 percent, the highest in over two years, up from 0.9 percent in fourth-quarter 2024 and a near-record low of 0.6 percent in third-quarter 2023. Net absorption was negative at -115,001 square feet in first-quarter 2025, marking the fifth quarter of negative net absorption in the last six. Despite this, direct weighted average asking base rents reached a new high of $1.56 per square foot per month, reflecting continued landlord leverage in a market with severely constrained supply. Industrial operating expenses also rose, averaging $0.54 per square foot monthly, pushing our gross rents over $2.00 per square foot. Raw Land Market: A Race to Buy Before It’s Gone In a typical year, Oahu absorbs 10 to 20 acres of raw industrial land. But in a short period between the end of 2021 and the first half of 2022, over 100 acres had traded, driven by high-profile acquisitions such as Amazon’s 50-acre purchase and Costco’s 45-acre site purchased for almost …
— By Anthony Johnson and A.J. Johnson of Pegasus Retail — Looking back on the market sentiment at the start of 2024, the mantra was “Survive ‘til 25.” Now, halfway through 2025, it’s clear that the record-breaking cap rate sales of 2021 and 2022 are firmly in the rearview. Speculative development is reserved for those with a generational outlook, and high interest rates are the new normal. While that may seem bleak, for those who’ve weathered the storm, it feels like a breath of fresh air. The market has reset. Seller and buyer expectations are realigning. Landlords and tenants are exploring new deals in a more stable environment. And smart developers are dusting off models and cautiously getting back to work. The construction hiatus of recent years has benefited owners of existing product. Tenants, fueled by Wall Street growth expectations, had to get creative. We now see many national retailers occupying second and third generation retail space that they’d historically passed in favor of shinier and newer projects. Many neighborhood centers that were 50 percent vacant at the onset of the pandemic are now close to fully leased. A surprising but welcome shift. This outcome, partly driven by the lack …
— By Liz Claire of Avison Young — The Las Vegas retail market continued its strong performance in fourth-quarter 2024. Vacancy rates declined to 5.3 percent, marking a 200-basis-point drop from the fourth quarter of 2020. Strong absorption rates and healthy rent increases highlight the market’s resilience, even as growth has moderated since its peak in first-quarter 2021. Vacancy Declines and Strong Absorption Las Vegas experienced a significant increase in positive retail space absorption in fourth-quarter 2024, following eight quarters of minimal movement, with a total of 619,000 square feet absorbed. This surge was primarily driven by major developments, including the completion of the 500,000-square-foot BLVD retail project, which saw strong pre-leasing activity from prominent tenants like Adidas, H&M, Lululemon and In-N-Out Burger. Sustained high demand lowered the vacancy rate by 40 basis points from the previous quarter, further solidifying Las Vegas as a leading retail market. Retail Rents and Growth Trends Market-wide retail asking rents averaged $35.20 per square foot, with rents outside the high-priced resort corridor averaging $29.08 per square foot. Year over year, rents increased by 5.8 percent, significantly outpacing the national average rent growth of 3 percent. This steady rent appreciation demonstrates continued demand for retail space in …
— By Charles Van Geel of Cushman & Wakefield — Despite broader economic headwinds, Southern Nevada’s commercial real estate market continues to showcase remarkable resilience – especially in the office sector. The demand for high-quality office space remains strong in the Southwest and Summerlin submarkets, underpinned by a flight to quality and shifting corporate priorities toward top-tier environments. The bulk of today’s office activity is concentrated along the critical Interstate 215 corridor, stretching from Green Valley to Summerlin parkways. This corridor has become the heartbeat of the region’s office market. However, within this high-demand stretch, the availability of true Class A product (particularly in the Southwest submarket) is diminishing. Small blocks of space are becoming increasingly rare, while sublease opportunities along this corridor are practically nonexistent. Adding pressure to this is the fact that new construction is largely stalled. Speculative development is not economically feasible with the current market dynamics. Lenders are unwilling to fund projects unless developers can demonstrate significant preleasing commitments, often north of 50 percent. This has been a challenge, as preleasing activity in the broader market remains minimal. Still, the area has received a few recent high-profile deliveries. These include Downtown Summerlin’s 1700 Pavilion, Phase II of …
— By Jerry Doty of Colliers — While several other Western markets started to slow down in late 2022 or early 2023, the Southern Nevada industrial market seemed to be relatively unscathed going into 2024. However, the impact was finally felt early in the first quarter of 2024. It lasted through the remainder of the year. Despite this noticeable decline in activity, most remained optimistic that it would be a quick slump. We were hoping 2025 would come out with guns blazing. These prognostications have so far proven to be incorrect. First-quarter 2025 felt very much like the past four quarters. This noticeable slowdown could not have come at a worse time. We are in the midst of a record wave of new completions that will continue to deliver through the third quarter. The Las Vegas industrial market delivered a little less than 16 million square feet of new inventory in 2024, bringing the total market up to 180 million square feet. The Valley is composed of eight different industrial submarkets, with the North being both the largest in total size (75 million square feet) and the largest amount of product under construction (almost 3.6 million square feet). At the …
— By Adam Schmitt of CBRE — The Las Vegas multifamily market is experiencing a significant transformation that’s shaped by new construction trends and evolving market dynamics. As the city continues to expand and adapt, it is essential for current investors, developers and capital allocators to understand the opportunities and barriers for growth. The multifamily market has seen substantial fluctuations since the onset of COVID-19. Rents surged by 24.6 percent in 2021, buoyed by government interventions. However, as these supports diminished, vacancy rates rose sharply, climbing from an average of 3.4 percent in 2021 to 7.35 percent in 2023. Recent trends, however, indicate a recovery. Vacancy rates have decreased to 6.5 percent as of February, which hint that multifamily fundamentals may be regaining stability and moving toward normalized averages. The single-family housing market is another critical element influencing the overall health of Las Vegas’ economy. The market produced 160,092 single-family homes between 2003 and 2008. However, only 142,455 were built between 2009 and 2024. This slowdown has led to soaring home prices, even amid rising mortgage rates approaching 7 percent. Consequently, the growing disparity between renting and owning has created favorable conditions for rental housing demand, further solidifying the multifamily …
— By Kalli Knight of Colliers — The Los Angeles multifamily market faces several headwinds, including rising expenses, the aftermath of recent fires, insurance exclusions and Measure ULA. These factors impact transaction volumes, leading many investors to remain on the sidelines. However, Southern California and Los Angeles will continue to have strong fundamentals, attracting a unique pool of buyers. This includes qualified, high-net-worth family offices eager to take advantage of limited competition to acquire new construction at prices below replacement costs or favorable debt terms. Management companies are increasingly critical in supporting property stabilization post-pandemic, with a growing urgency to enhance operations and increase net operating income. As construction loans mature, their impact on property stabilization is significant. Though the concession rate of 0.7 percent is significantly less than the national concession rate of 1.1 percent, many developers now offer four to six weeks of concessions to lease properties and meet projected rents outlined in their financial analyses. Some developers have also opted for creative strategies, such as providing customized closets to attract renters at higher luxury price points instead of relying solely on weekly concessions. Vacancy rates in the market vary, but have generally improved since 2024. They have …
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