Western Market Reports

Orange County’s Industrial Sector Continues to Grow

by Jeff Shaw March 24, 2023

— By Jace Gan, Executive Vice President, Colliers — Before 2020, Orange County’s industrial base shrank due to developers opting to redevelop multifamily and creative office spaces. Historically tight market conditions limit the number of new leases, and rising interest rates price out many businesses looking to purchase a building. However, we are seeing a significant increase in industrial development across Orange County for the first time in a while. Orange County industrial properties have seen a pullback from institutions that were putting capital out the door. About 2.4 million square feet of new industrial space was constructed in 2022 — a significant increase over the 660,000-square-foot, five-year average. Setting Pace Most activity occurs in North County, which makes up 45 percent of OC’s industrial base. Irvine has remained the hub for more specialized uses related to aerospace, medical, etc. Key developments across the region are dictating the speed of future activity. Goodman recently developed a 1.5-million-square-foot, four-building logistics center in Fullerton. The overall size is rare for the OC, and was 89 percent pre-leased before completion. Samsung took two buildings totaling 1 million square feet. Sprouts took 337,000 square feet in another building. Sares Regis Group is redeveloping an …

March 24, 2023

California Market Reports Office Western Western Market Reports

Orange County’s Office Market is on Divergent Paths as it Looks to Find Balance

by Jeff Shaw March 14, 2023

— Scott Wetzel, Executive Vice President, JLL — Tenants and debt remain the most important drivers of the Orange County office ecosystem — both having undergone major evolutions in recent history. Maybe unexpectedly, leasing velocity improved year over year, despite the never-ending drumbeat of a pending recession. Conversely, investment markets were much more cautious as debt cost spiked and investors pumped the brakes. Leasing From Bob Iger to Howard Schultz, prominent executives are voicing frustration over the state of the office market…and rightfully so. We watched the pendulum swing from end to end as office tenants went from fully “in office” pre-pandemic, to 100 percent remote for the better part of 2020 and 2021. Today, the national office usage rate still hovers around 50 percent, according to the most recent Kastle Systems report. Orange County reflects this national trend, meaning it’s stuck in the middle between in-office and in-home. Tenants are also on divergent paths as some seek quality, while others prioritize value. New Orange County office developments like Flight (Lincoln Property Company), Boardwalk (AEW) and Spectrum Terrace (the Irvine Company) are fully leased and have achieved premium rental rates, typically 70 percent-plus above average market lease rates. Large contiguous …

March 14, 2023

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Orange County’s Multifamily Sector Remains Highly Sought After By Investors

by Jeff Shaw March 8, 2023

— By Shane Shafer, Managing Director, Northmarq — Orange County remains a highly desirable market for multifamily investors — and for good reason. It’s a flight-to-quality market with a strong employment base and continued expectations of future job growth. This drives demand for rental units and pushes rent growth and occupancy. Add to that a severe shortage of rental housing supply, more would-be homebuyers remaining renter, and Orange County’s affordability compared with other Southern California markets, and it points to a robust investor market. The employment market continues to show signs of growth and resurgence, adding 73,000 jobs in 2022. Unemployment is an extremely low 2.5 percent. Orange County is long known for its tech startups, tourism and hospitality sectors, though healthcare and bioscience are expanding here as well. For example, Washington-based health system Providence is investing $712 million in Orange County to build two new multi-specialty medical centers and a new patient care tower for Providence Mission Hospital. The centers will be in San Clemente and Rancho Mission Viejo. This strong job market gives multifamily investors confidence in their expected returns as they aggressively pursue assets when they hit the market. Central OC Leads in Rental Gains Central Orange County experienced a …

March 8, 2023

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Inland Empire Multifamily Market Poised for Great Future Potential

by Jeff Shaw March 1, 2023

— By Shane Shafer, Managing Director, Northmarq — The Inland Empire submarkets have maintained rent increases, low vacancy rates and employment growth. Plus, unlike other Southern California markets, the IE has seen a migration into the area — not out. The population of the Inland Empire region in an average year expands by about 50,000 residents. This is the fifth largest gain among the largest 50 metros, per 2021 Census numbers. A Jobs-Rich Market Gaining Momentum Local employment showed signs of growth and resurgence, adding jobs each of the past four quarters. Year-over-year total employment increased by more than 83,000 positions, which equates to a gain of more than 5 percent. Contrast this with other markets, and you can see why the Inland Empire is on most investors’ top 10 lists for buying, and why expectations are so high for the market to have continued rental growth. The logistics sector is one of the biggest and fastest growing in the United States. These jobs have consistently grown over the past 10 years, increasing by more than 10 percent. This year, Amazon inked a record-setting 4.1-million-square-foot facility in Ontario, while companies like Target, Shopify, Best Buy, AutoZone and others also made large commitments. The …

March 1, 2023

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Inland Empire Multifamily Market Poised for Great Future

by Jeff Shaw March 1, 2023

March 1, 2023

Arizona Industrial Market Reports Western Western Market Reports

Is This a Return to Normal for Phoenix’s Industrial Market?

by Jeff Shaw February 24, 2023

— By Rob Martensen, Senior Executive Vice President, Colliers International — There are a lot of questions being asked about the Phoenix industrial market as we turn the calendar to 2023. Having been an industrial broker in this market for 25 years, I have seen many ups and downs, which are historically driven by the residential construction market. Phoenix used to be a one-industry town…and that industry was growth. Sure, we’ve had large companies like Motorola, Avnet and Intel, but the industrial market has been mostly driven by people moving to Arizona and buying houses and household goods. Phoenix has transformed in the past five years into a thriving city that now supports many industries. The largest is advanced manufacturing. This includes semiconductors, battery manufacturing, electric vehicle manufacturing and all supporting businesses. Intel is in the process of a $20 billion expansion to their existing facility, while Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) is under construction on a $12 billion chip making factory. TSMC recently announced it’s going to immediately start on Phase II of this factory, which will be another $28 billion spent in Phoenix. It is estimated that 160 new companies have moved to Phoenix to support these two new …

February 24, 2023

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Inland Empire Industrial Remains Strong, but Sees Signs of Equilibrium

by Jeff Shaw February 20, 2023

— By Jerry Holdner, Southern California Region Lead, Innovation & Insight, AVANT, Avison Young — The industrial market in the Inland Empire has been performing beyond what most of the industry projected over recent quarters. The region boasts a low unemployment rate of 4.2 percent, as of November 2022, which is below the anticipated 5.4 percent estimated a year ago. It is important to highlight, however, that job creation has been uneven. Leisure and hospitality jobs are still underwater, for example. The bright spot is that high-value-added jobs in a broad range of sectors like technology, software development, aerospace, scientific research, medical products and pharmaceutical development continue to grow, which bode well for the industrial sector. Here are some key market indicators, according to Avison Young’s fourth-quarter Inland Empire Industrial Insights report: • There was 38.9 million square feet of new industrial construction underway at the end of 2022. This is down 37.1 percent as compared to the end of 2021 when 28.4 million square feet was under construction. • There was 13.9 million square feet of positive absorption in 2022, down 53.5 percent when compared to 2021’s record-high total of 29.9 million square feet of positive absorption. This represents 2.5 percent …

February 20, 2023

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Office Tenants are Small, Subleases are Big in Phoenix

by Jeff Shaw February 17, 2023

— By Andrew Cheney, Principal, Lee & Associates — The metro Phoenix office market continues a slow recovery as it battles the nation’s highest rates of both sublease growth and inflation. Starting off the fourth quarter at only 532,000 square feet (year-to-date), net absorption in Greater Phoenix remained well off the 20-year average mark of 1.6 million square feet. Direct office vacancy stands at a seemingly high figure of 17.6 percent. However, this is in line with the 20-year average of 18 percent. Currently, there are six key trends impacting Phoenix’s office market. Small tenants are back in the office. I imagine most brokers will report that the highest concentration of active, touring prospects are in the market for less than 10,000 square feet. These company sizes want to be in the office in metro Phoenix, and not just a few days a week. High-quality spec suites rule. Landlords recognize that smaller tenants are driving leasing activity — and that these small tenants will not wait for a build-out. Instead of holding one or two spec suites in inventory at any one time, landlords are building out large batches of five to seven spec suites at a time. And they’re spending money to build …

February 17, 2023

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Las Vegas’ Underlying Multifamily Fundamentals Remain Strong Despite Moderating Growth

by Jeff Shaw February 15, 2023

By Jared Glover, Director of Investment Sales, Berkadia The Las Vegas multifamily market started to feel the effects of higher interest rates alongside persistent inflation as the third quarter ended. Thankfully, properties still experienced trade-outs and overall in-place rent growth, though year-over-year growth began to moderate, coming in near 8 percent. Loss to lease capture remains, although at a slower pace than prior quarters, with average market rent at $1,515. The third quarter also saw a 3 percent decrease in occupancy, setting at 93.6 percent, after experiencing record occupancy throughout 2021. On the transaction front, we have seen a dramatic shift in cap rates. This is a direct result of the Fed’s tightening. Within a six-month span, cap rates widened upwards of 150 basis points — from low to mid-3s to 5 and trending up, depending on product type. The homogenous nature of national cap rates in 2021, with most markets trading in the 3.5 range, seems to have shifted back to historical norms as the primary/coastal markets once again demanded a premium versus secondary or tertiary markes. Both Monterra and the Boulevard traded north of a 5 cap on in-place numbers, speaking to these latest cap rate trends. Just four months ago, a …

February 15, 2023

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Rising Costs Create a Challenge for Inland Empire Office Landlords

by Jeff Shaw February 13, 2023

— By Kyle Yocum, first vice president, and Phillip Woodford, senior vice president, CBRE — The Inland Empire office market is experiencing a rise in cost, much like all sectors and markets throughout the U.S. As tenant improvement costs continue to increase, it’s becoming more and more challenging to find win-win situations with landlords and tenants. Landlords are having to increase their TI allocations, while tenants are having to show more flexibility as it relates to working with existing space. That, or they must cover a portion of the TI costs themselves or commit to longer-term leases to help the deal pencil for the landlord. Due to TI costs, both parties need to meet halfway and make concessions. I think one of the reasons our market has done well is that we are a smaller market. Most parties involved seem to understand the give and take needed to make deals pencil for both sides. Concessions are entirely contingent on TI costs, with landlords offering significant amounts of free rent and slight discounts on the rental rate if the TI costs are low. If a tenant is seeking major changes to the space, landlords are staying close to or at their …

February 13, 2023

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