Net absorption in the first half of 2014 for the Las Vegas office market is positive, by about 500,000 square feet, causing the total office vacancy rate to decline valley-wide. This market has a total office inventory of 60.7 million square feet in 3,860 buildings. About 900,000 square feet remains under construction at the end of the second quarter — about 800,000 square feet of which is speculative development. This is interesting, considering the overall market vacancy is hovering around 20 percent. Average quoted asking rental rates decreased slightly to $1.88 per square foot, per month ($22.56 per square foot annualized) on a full-service gross basis. Concessions, incentives and tenant improvement allowances to secure tenants continue to vary from project to project. The assumption that a tenant could expect to receive up to one month free rent per year of lease term may be a declining trend in the coming quarters. The newer trend is landlords completing speculative build-outs in vacant suites, though this is still not the norm. Investment sales in the first half of 2014 decreased from the previous year, with about 800,000 square feet of properties sold at an average price per square foot that was slightly …
Western Market Reports
The Phoenix metro economy continues to outpace the nation in job growth, even though 2014 has taken on a slower pace than last year. Much of the 2013 job growth occurred in education, healthcare and financial services. The latter has been a particularly strong growth industry for Phoenix, with 7.2 percent job growth in 2013, versus overall job growth of 2.8 percent. Overall job growth for Phoenix is forecast to be 3.2 percent this year. Despite the job growth and the cautiously optimistic outlook from most within the retail industry, new retail development is still very limited. Unlike in the past when the anchor was a traditional grocery or discount store, much of the development today is anchored by non-retail traffic generators. This includes office and apartment developments, such as new retail space planned for SkySong at Scottsdale and McDowell roads. There are also several ground-floor retail opportunities at the newest mid-rise apartment developments around Scottsdale Fashion Square, Arizona State University and the area on the northern edge of Downtown Phoenix near Roosevelt and Central. Additional retail is planned adjacent to the newest Village Health Club at Ocotillo/Alma School Road in south Chandler. Retail and hospitality developments have been proposed …
The Phoenix metro office market continues to show signs of growth and recovery despite a high level of economic uncertainty that businesses around the country are experiencing today. Besides this being an election year, there is uncertainty over healthcare costs, the regulatory environment, minimum wage, taxes, government spending, entitlement programs, political gridlock, and on and on. The Phoenix metro area has absorbed 1.1 million square feet of office space year-to-date, bringing overall vacancy down to 18.6 percent, according to Colliers. Most of the larger, contiguous office spaces that are in demand by larger companies have been absorbed. However, uncertainty has caused postponement in investment, hiring, expansion and relocation, especially for small- to medium-sized businesses. Much of the vacant office space is composed of small, noncontiguous spaces that these firms would occupy. Certain submarkets enjoy vacancy rates in the single digits. Chandler’s Price Corridor and downtown Tempe have been consistently attractive to larger office users given their amenities and concentration of technology firms, financial institutions, software developers, insurance, and many other industries and institutions. Rental rates are beginning to inch up in these submarkets as supply is absorbed and new construction begins to take shape. Excessive economic uncertainty has kept the …
Las Vegas investors remain risk averse, favoring Class A and B properties. Increased buyer demand and a lack of inventory will support more aggressive pricing, with the sellers capitalizing on improving property performance. With stronger operations, Class C owners are encouraged to bring assets to market, pushing deal flow for the properties. The location of the asset is crucial to investors searching for higher returns, which is expected to exceed 8 percent. With an improving local economy, new construction, strengthening job market and a new “downtown,” we can expect a lower apartment vacancy and higher rents in Las Vegas this year. The improving local market and strengthen job market is being driven by some noteworthy construction and openings this year. They include the Linq, SLS Hotel (formerly Sahara Casino), the Downtown Summerlin Mall, the Grand Bazaar Shops, the Malaysia-based Genting Berhad’s $4-billion Resorts World Las Vegas (formerly Echelon) and the announcement of the $2.5-billion renovation of the Las Vegas Convention Center. These projects will create more than 15 million direct and indirect jobs. On top of this, occupancy rates keep rising. The Las Vegas market absorbed more than 3,000 units in 2013. It has absorbed another 760 net-leased units so …
Investor money has returned to the industrial market in Las Vegas. Compressing cap rates continue to result in rising values on properties even in the hardest-hit areas of Las Vegas. Couple that with limited available industrial product, and the result is the need for today’s buyers to act quickly and competitively if they want to acquire quality properties that will deliver attractive yields. MCA Realty initially entered the Las Vegas market in mid-2011 to acquire incubator/mid-bay, multi-tenant industrial properties significantly below replacement cost. Since that time, the firm has seen a substantial shift in the number of buyers competing for this product type in this market. This increasing competition will continue to drive values up, and investors will need to rely even more heavily on their local brokerage relationships to make deals work. On the leasing side, vacancy rates continue their downward trend. Occupancy is up on all industrial product types, and confidence from business owners continues to rise. The result is increased stabilization throughout the market. A key component driving the tenant demand for multi-tenant industrial is the resurgence of hotel construction and renovation in the works on the Las Vegas Strip. This activity has created a surge of …
It should come as no surprise at this point that Orange County is on course with a robust economic recovery. Furthermore, there are favorable indicators for a steady increase in value over the next few years. Even though industrial product is limited in the county, development is picking up now that vacancy rates have been on a downward slope and rental rates continue their course on a gradual upturn. While all sectors in Orange County are seeing movement in a desirable direction, quality industrial space is becoming even more of a premium. The larger industrial spaces are drying up in Orange County. Most of the industrial spaces available today are smaller than 20,000 square feet. Meanwhile, many older buildings are being converted or remodeled to invite a variety of other property uses like residential, creative office and self-storage. The average asking price for investment-grade industrial properties of more than 20,000 square feet in Orange County is at $147 per square foot, as of the halfway point through the second quarter of 2014. This number has been on the rise year-over-year since the drop at the end of 2010 when the average asking price dipped to $120 per square foot. The …
Due to its unique location and an economy pretty well recovered from the recession, Honolulu has experienced explosive growth in high-rise condo developments. These are exciting times for investors and developers of multifamily properties on the islands. Hawaii’s economy is finally on a positive growth trend for 2014. This is expected to continue into 2015 and beyond. The state’s economy relies heavily on conditions in the U.S. economy and key international economies, particularly Japan, which has experienced slow growth. Tourism in Hawaii is the No. 1 industry. Last year, it grew 4.8 percent, which resulted in more than eight million annual visitors. This is expected to taper to 3 percent in 2014. U.S real GDP is expected to increase by 2.4 percent in 2014 and 3 percent in 2015. In comparison, Hawaii’s economy is projected to show a 2.4 percent increase in 2014 and 2.2 percent in 2015. Hawaii’s unemployment rate is projected to be 4.2 percent in 2014, 4 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2017. The Honolulu Consumer Price index is expected to increase to 2.1 percent in 2014 and 2.5 percent in 2015. These are all positive signs. However, Hawaii suffers from a critical shortage of …
Southern California has one of today’s strongest retail markets in the nation. Orange County has fared particularly well recently, showing resilience to the tough economic period of the past six to seven years. According to CBRE research, the average per capita income in Orange County is 20 percent above the national average, while its unemployment rate stands at 5.8 percent. This is well below the State of California’s rate at 8 percent, and below the nation’s rate of 6.7 percent. The overall retail vacancy rate of 4.9 percent has reduced 50 basis points since the first quarter of 2013 and has shown three consecutive quarters of positive net absorption. While the overall retail numbers in Orange County are improving, certain fundamental changes in the personality of the market are evolving after the recession: E-commerce: Bricks-and-mortar stores in Orange County are responding to unprecedented levels of online sales. According to CBRE research, national online sales are up 185 percent over the past 10 years. They’re projected to grow between 10 percent and 14 percent annually through 2017. Many of the region’s retailers are actively enhancing their customer’s in-store shopping experience to create an environment that e-commerce is unable to offer. Customer …
Hawaii has been immersed in an economic recovery over the past two years. This recovery has exceeded the overall U.S. performance in regards to total employment growth and total personal income growth. These figures have grown in Hawaii by 2.2 percent and 3.4 percent, respectively. Such economic growth has spurred strong performance from retail centers, while healthy spending from domestic and international shoppers has advanced the retail recovery in Hawaii. According to the Hawaii Tourism Authority, total visitor expenditures for 2013 were a record high of $14.5 billion, a 2 percent increase over 2012. The total visitor arrivals increased 2.6 percent, to 8.2 million, exceeding the previous record of eight million in 2012. International tourism is a strong factor in Hawaii’s economy as well. According to the Office of Travel and Tourism, Honolulu ranks as the fourth-largest port for total overseas arrivals. Honolulu received almost two million non-domestic arrivals in 2012, not including those from Canada and Mexico. Not only is the level of overseas visitor arrivals placing Hawaii close to the top of the pack, but its growth has exceeded the U.S. (on a year-over-year growth basis) every quarter since 2011. International tourism arrivals to Hawaii have grown an …
The Downtown Seattle office leasing market continues to be led by growing tech firms, especially Amazon.com. Amazon recently signed leases for 5th & Bell (125,000 square feet), 635 Elliott (180,000 square feet) and Blanchard Plaza (125,000 square feet with the possibility to take down the entire 250,000-square-foot property). The online retailer is also moving forward with the development of three high-rise buildings totaling 3.3 million square feet. Amazon owns additional lots for more projects in the future as needed. Other tech firms, including Zulily, Twitter, Tableau Software, Nuance Communications, Avalara, Acucela and Simply Measured, are either opening new offices or expanding rapidly. Developers are responding to this demand by moving fast to bring new projects to market. These projects include Dexter Station, 400 Fairview, Hill7 and Troy Block, which are all under construction. Trammell Crow recently announced its 1007 Stewart project, while Holland Partners is developing buildings sites one through three at Westlake Steps, and Schnitzer’s ready to begin construction on its Urban Union development. These development sites are all located in the South Lake Union area in and around the Amazon projects. This addresses the demand seen from other tech firms that want to be near Amazon and the …