Seattle is a top-10 market nationwide for apartment and condo construction, and retailers are following residential growth back into the Seattle core market. In the first half of the 2013, nine apartment projects added nearly 1,300 units to Downtown. As of June 2013, 30 more residential projects were under construction or permitted, representing about 5,400 units. Projects (mostly apartments) are breaking ground at a quickening pace, with total construction costs for those currently underway at about $2.8 billion — a level not experienced since 2008. Many of the projects are mixed-use developments that contain street-level retail components. Almost half are located near Downtown Seattle. In 2012, three major retail renovations were completed in Downtown. This overhauling of aging retail space has continued into 2013. Nordstrom Rack now has a new 42,500-square-foot space in the Metro level of Westlake Center, which is directly across from the Nordstrom flagship store. Pike Place Market completed several renovations that cost close to $70 million. These included upgrades to the Market’s infrastructure and features. Target acquired 95,000 square feet of space in the Newmark building (Pike Plaza) and remodeled the retail space across three floors. This urban-concept CityTarget is roughly two-thirds the size of a …
Western Market Reports
It is no secret hat recovery in this real estate cycle hinges on job creation. In Phoenix, this means all eyes are on the markets that can deliver not only space and amenities, but also that golden element: employees. The Southeast Valley emerged early as Phoenix’s premier labor play and most dynamic “big picture” winner with amenities like Arizona State University, Light Rail and a strong base of corporate users. As a result, markets like Tempe have surged ahead with year-to-date positive net absorption of 4.1 percent, 15.8 percent vacancy (compared to the metro Phoenix rate of 24.9 percent) and a host of new tenant announcements. In 2013 alone, Go Daddy added 150,000 square feet to its local footprint; Silicon Valley Bank inked an expansion at Hayden Ferry Lakeside; and State Farm rocked the industry with plans for a new $600-million, 2-million-square-foot office development. In March, GM announced it will invest $21 million and hire 1,000 employees for a new Information Technology Innovation Center in Chandler. This will boost Chandler’s already positive performance, which includes an auspicious 12.8 percent office vacancy and rents at $22.31 per square foot. This area has experienced a small but positive year-to-date absorption of 0.6 …
Each week seems to bring news of yet another record-selling price for a commercial property in Seattle, including assets ranging from office and retail to apartments and even development sites. Increasing occupancy rates for industrial and retail properties also suggest that property values are headed up. The King County assessor has undoubtedly tracked these price trends, too. In 2012, the assessor’s office reported overall increases in taxable values for major office buildings, major retail properties, hotels and apartments. As a result, many commercial property owners in the Puget Sound region saw increases on their 2012 assessed value notices. In March, King County’s chief economist projected that total assessed values in the county would reach nearly $327 billion in 2013 (for taxes payable in 2014), up nearly 4 percent from $315 billion in 2012. For many taxpayers, notices in 2013 will reflect assessment increases even greater than 4 percent. The general recovery in the Seattle market should not trigger increased assessments for all properties. For example, some suburban areas have missed out on the trend toward increasing property values. And there are always individual properties that do not experience the same increases as their neighbors. Accordingly, owners should be attentive to …
The Phoenix industrial market ended the second quarter of 2013 with vacancy rates at 12.4 percent, while net absorption totaled a positive 471,635 square feet. Asking rents are increasing and demand for larger facilities has been the catalyst in the recovery. Over the past 15 years, vacancy rates have averaged 10.3 percent, providing evidence that the current market is not far off from the average. Phoenix has historically seen significant cyclical swings. This past recession has been no exception to this. However, the positive net absorption the area’s industrial sector has experienced over the past two-plus years signals that the Valley is well on its way to recovery. The Phoenix market has absorbed 20.7 million square feet, and has built more than 7 million square feet of new space. Year-over-year, the total number of transactions has increased 24 percent, bringing excitement to the Valley once again. Big box industrial in Phoenix has absorbed about 15 million square feet of space on a net basis throughout 2011 and 2012. The vast majority of that net absorption has been big box product in the Southwest Valley. Rental rates also increased from the high $0.20 net range to a current low-mid $0.30 range …
Amazon, Zulily, Real Networks, Intel, eBay, Attachmate, PATH, Omeros, F5 Networks, Microsoft. Collectively, these technology companies have dominated Seattle’s office leasing landscape over the past 12 months. This period has seen an eye-popping absorption of more than 1.9 million square feet. That would be astonishing growth in nearly any city, but with a Class A and B base of 63 million square feet, this number is even more impressive. The vacancy rate has dropped and now stands at 11.5 percent, while correspondingly rental rates rose more than $4 per square foot, cresting above the $30 per square foot, full service, for the first time in more than a decade. In addition, both rental abatement and discretionary tenant improvement allowances have diminished. What’s noteworthy is that none of these companies made commitments in the Central Business District. Instead, each opted for an urban campus style as opposed to a traditional stacked, high-rise presence. These companies either backfilled Class A properties immediately south of Downtown in Pioneer Square or relocated into first-generation space just north of the core in the South Lake Union submarket. Despite this current trend, Seattle’s core is very healthy. It’s even listed as a top-three investment market on …
The multifamily market in the Phoenix metropolitan area remains, as it was in 2012, the most popular property sector for investment and new construction. Post-recession job creation, coupled with echo-boomers leaving the nest, has created a leveraged demand for multifamily product. Years of near-zero construction, followed by a rapid increase in demand, has created a landlord’s market throughout most of the valley. Vacancy across the Phoenix metro area is now less than 7 percent. It is expected to fall to less than 6 percent by the end of the year. Rental rates are up 3 percent to 5 percent valley-wide, with some submarkets fairing much better than others. Scottsdale, North Tempe and South Phoenix are some of the areas where rents are up significantly and vacancies are down. Concessions are waning in most regions, though a few remain in parts of the West Valley and Central Black Canyon. This surge in demand is spurring new apartment development catering to Generation Y (echo-boomer) tenants. Many in this demographic subset are choosing apartment living. They are doing so for two reasons: either to avoid the hurdles of qualifying for a home mortgage or to enjoy higher-end finishes and amenities that are found …
Orange County's industrial marketplace doesn’t quite favor owners just yet, but it’s getting close. Our industrial inventories are at historic lows and, with a few exceptions, we have not seen any new construction since 2007. There are a couple new projects planned — and a few more are under construction — but they’ve mostly been large warehouses north of 100,000 square feet. The projected asking rents for these big boxes is $0.50 or more per square foot, triple net; a very expensive rent for a commodity. In general, as these big box rents approach or exceed $0.50 triple net, occupants tend to seek cheaper environs. In Orange County’s case, this usually means they migrate east of town in the Inland markets or beyond. Smaller, newer inventory (20,000 square feet to 50,000 square feet) that hits the market these days is gobbled up quickly, sometimes with multiple suitors. Incubator space (less than 10,000 square feet) has also rebounded nicely with absorption at a blistering pace. We haven’t seen a great deal of rent growth or price appreciation to date, although the latest round of transactions that are in escrow now should bring some evidence of upward change. During the depths of …
The Orange The Orange County apartment market continues to rebound. Operations have improved so far in 2013, with vacancy below equilibrium and asking rents nearly 10 percent above the low point during the recession. The healthy performance of the apartment market is a result of Orange County’s strategic location, population growth, low unemployment rate, high occupancy and shortage of available housing, which has greatly benefited multifamily investors. According to Hendricks-Berkadia Research, the county is one of the most densely populated areas in the United States. Orange County is 2.5 times denser than Contra Costa and Santa Clara counties, and five times denser than San Diego County, which has nearly the same population. The population in Orange County has grown consistently, and reached 3,055,800 residents at the end of 2012, up 26.7 percent from 1990. The unemployment rate for Orange County in the second quarter of 2013 averaged 5.6 percent, 130 basis point below what it was at the end of 2012. According to Moody’s Analytics, the local jobless rate is lower than state and U.S averages. This would be the lowest rate since 2008, indicative of the improving economy in Orange County. Employment growth in the county is also expected …
The Orange County retail market, which consists of about 140 million square feet of space, continues to thrive as it sees an overall vacancy rate of just 5.5 percent. With strong income demographics, an improving job market and a limited supply of retail property, Orange County continues to be a target for both retailers and investors. As job growth is an indicator of a positive retail market due to increasing demand from the county’s consumer base, the positive data coming supports a well-held belief that the investor protects his or her downside risk by targeting ideally located retail property in Orange County. Through this, they benefit from consistent appreciation by virtue of owning retail property in a market characterized by very high barriers to entry. In its 2013-2014 Economic Forecast & Industry Outlook, the Los Angeles County Economic Development Corp. says that the county’s job market over the next couple of years will be strong. It anticipates an increase of nearly 52,000 jobs. LAEDC also reports that retail jobs will increase, and that taxable retail sales reached $39.3 billion last year. Those sales are expected to reach $42 billion this year and $43.7 billion next year. With that said, from …
A multi-speed economic and real estate recovery is occurring in Northern California’s office markets. San Francisco and Silicon Valley have been in recovery mode for more than two years with strong growth in both rents and occupancies. The technology industry is the driving force and has produced about 50,000 jobs in the Bay Area since 2010, according to CBRE’s analysis of data provided by the state of California. This has generated high volumes of office space demand that is concentrated mostly in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. These two markets have seen overall average rents grow by more the 60 percent in the most popular submarkets like South of Market (SOMA) in San Francisco, where prices have reached $53.91 per square foot, and Sunnyvale/Mountain View in Silicon Valley, where they hover at $54.36 per square foot. As conditions tightened, activity fanned out to neighboring submarkets, causing new development in popular submarkets to ramp up. The southern portions of the San Francisco Peninsula, northern portions of San Jose and southern portions of the East Bay markets adjacent to Silicon Valley have all benefited from overflow demand. San Francisco has not yet produced significant overflow demand, although further rental rate increases are …