By Taylor Williams The current industrial development landscape in Texas is a true testament to the awesome power of demand — and of interest rate hikes. From El Paso to Houston, industrial users of all sizes and across all industries continue to demand new or expanded spaces to accommodate their ever-growing warehousing, distribution and manufacturing needs. E-commerce, nearshoring, COVID-19 — name your impetus — they’ve all contributed to a feverish pace of industrial development and absorption in recent years. According to fourth-quarter 2022 data from CBRE, Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) saw an annual supply gain of about 36.1 million square feet in 2022 while posting positive net absorption of 36.5 million square feet. Third-party logistics users drove much of the new leasing activity, which contributed to a 4.6 percent vacancy rate at the end of the year. The market has now posted consecutive years of sub-5-percent vacancy. Fittingly, there remains more than 75 million square feet of product under construction throughout the metroplex. In Houston, developers delivered approximately 18.8 million square feet of new industrial space in 2022, per CBRE. Yet the market posted more than 30 million square feet of positive absorption over the course of last year, and the …
Texas
By Kent Elliott, principal, and Chase Fryhover, director, RETS Associates While December’s national jobs report painted an optimistic picture of the employment landscape, some sources have noted that workers in commercial real estate are leaving the industry. Yet although some national brokerage firms may be trimming the fat to cut costs in light of recent economic uncertainty, this trend does not seem to apply to Texas-based commercial real estate companies. In fact, according to Estateserve, with the Texas office market booming, vacancy rates dropping and rents rising, “Texas’ commercial real estate is experiencing a resurgence.” As a national executive search firm that has served the industry for more than two decades, RETS Associates has a seasoned perspective on job markets throughout the country. Here are the trends we are noticing throughout the industry in Texas and why we believe the market is poised for ongoing strength and stability. Continued In-Migration Texas is the ninth-largest economy in the world, as well as one of the leading markets in the country in job and economic growth. The Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) area in particular, the fourth-largest MSA in the country, led the country in population growth in March 2022 and in post-pandemic job …
HOUSTON — International developer Skanska has topped out 1550 on the Green, a 28-story, 375,000-square-foot office building located within the Discovery Green area in downtown Houston. Designed by BIG Bjarke Ingels Group, the building will include 7,000 square feet of ground-floor retail space, and tenants will have access to a fitness center and outdoor terraces with event spaces. CBRE is marketing the office space for lease, while SHOP Cos. is leading the lease-up of the retail component. The development team expects to begin welcoming tenants to the building before the end of the year.
By Eric Barnes, director of business development at SiteAware Texas has been one of the most attractive states for corporate relocations and sustained construction growth, spurred on by attractive tax benefits, a low cost of living and business-friendly policies. As such, Texas remains well-positioned for a robust and profitable construction economy heading into 2023. According to The Wall Street Journal, Texas cities rank among the fastest-growing in the country in terms of population. This strong population growth, coupled with a robust job market and strategic location, continues to attract employers. In 2021, the state saw a record number of headquarters relocations. Though that figure dipped in 2022 due to the conclusion of state-sponsored tax breaks, the local market remains healthy and attractive to developers and investors. In addition, the slowing down of relocations isn’t necessarily bad because it allows the state to ensure the success of companies already operating in Texas. Regardless of this dip in activity, the heightened need for more multifamily and commercial development continues and has translated to an influx of construction projects within the state. Challenges, Opportunities Texas contractors and developers are looking for better ways to manage construction sites and take on more projects to …
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 …
By The Allen Economic Development Corp. Austin is often in the spotlight as one of the country’s top tech hubs, but Allen, a growing suburb located north of Dallas, has emerged as a mini tech hub in its own right. Most recently, the Allen Economic Development Corp. (AEDC) announced that Pushpay, a provider of payments and engagement solutions for faith-based and nonprofit businesses, has signed a lease at One Bethany West as the company looks to expand its presence in North Texas. Pushpay is one of several companies that has in recent years discovered that Allen has the right combination of qualities and amenities to support tech companies seeking a new home. Pushpay is one of several companies that has in recent years discovered that Allen has the right combination of qualities and amenities to support tech companies seeking a new home. Pushpay will occupy 10,000 square feet of office space in the 17-acre Watters Creek campus, which will be accessible to its employees in the metroplex, many of which include associates from its subsidiary, Resi Media. “Pushpay and Resi are the perfect additions to the growing roster of tech-focused companies in Allen,” says David Ellis, assistant director at AEDC. …
By Taylor Williams Success in today’s office sector is all about creating incentives. Some companies, from small professional services outfits to tech giants like Salesforce and Airbnb, have completely capitulated to remote work and have aggressively slashed their office footprints. Others remain dogged in their commitments to nonresidential (and nonretail) workspaces. What works for one company may not work for its competitors, and there remains a fundamental need for at least some traditional office space across all major markets. Against this backdrop, what separates the winners from the losers is the ability to create a draw, to give people legitimately good reasons to get up earlier, spend more time getting ready, endure traffic, put costly mileage on their cars, then deal with whatever quirky goings-on define their office experience. Needless to say, this can be a tough sell, especially for employees with families and suburban commutes. Which is why owners, both of businesses and of the office buildings that house them, are getting creative. These corporate leaders and landlords are working in tandem to ensure that the spaces meet the precise needs of their workforces, from design and layout within the suite to access to onsite amenities and surrounding retail, …
By Jason Baker of Baker Katz It’s amazing how quickly things can change. Just a few short months ago, the commercial real estate outlook was generally positive. Both in Texas and nationally, retail sales were proving to be fairly resilient to the rising inflation and economic turbulence that have characterized most of 2022. Despite low consumer confidence, strong fundamentals and a retail sector riding the high of a post-pandemic boom provided plenty of reasons for optimism. That has all changed in the last 60 to 90 days. Prevailing positivity has recently given way to concern, and sentiment from within the industry has clearly shifted. High interest rates have made it virtually impossible to develop any type of commercial project, and persistent supply chain constraints and ongoing hikes in costs of construction materials have further exacerbated this challenge. With interest rate increases come higher cap rates, which complicates sellers’ efforts to move their assets while values are this fluid. To put the impact of rising rates into perspective, interest payments on commercial real estate have in some cases increased five-fold in just the last few months. The impact of this activity on retail real estate during the all-important holiday shopping season …
By Chip Colvill, executive vice president, Cushman & Wakefield Like many U.S. cities in the post-pandemic world, Houston’s office sector faces a long road to recovery. Historically, office demand follows office job creation — and job growth has been a bright spot of the Houston economy in 2022. Unfortunately, the U.S. economy seems to be slowing, and the outlook remains highly uncertain. Odds of a recession have risen; inflation and wage pressures remain elevated, and higher interest rates are impacting various parts of the economy, including commercial real estate. Throughout the United States as well as in Houston, the correlation between job growth and office demand is tenuous, given that many businesses are still recalibrating workplace strategies to allow remote and hybrid work schedules. However, new jobs — even more flexible, hybrid jobs — will necessitate various types of workspaces, including demand for office and flexible office space. Newer office buildings across Houston have thrived despite the market’s elevated Class A vacancy rate of approximately 26 percent. Each new quarter of data continues to confirm the flight-to-quality trend and the existence of a bifurcated office sector between older and newer office product. Higher-quality and newer office space is dominating as …
By Cody Roskelley, senior developer at Pennrose Texas has experienced tremendous residential growth over the last few years. Families are leaving high-cost, high-tax areas like New York and California for more affordable alternatives. According to The Tax Foundation, Texas was one of the Top 10 U.S. states for inbound migration in 2021, posting population growth around 1.3 percent on a year-over-year basis. With population increase also comes opportunities for economic growth and regional investment. However, having high-quality, affordable and workforce housing stock is key to the state successfully capitalizing on this moment. Between historically high rates of inflation and single-family home prices, as well as aggressive interest rate hikes, having the affordable housing infrastructure in place to attract new residents is critical. While most people generally agree that there is a need for more affordable housing, there is often local pushback once such communities are proposed in their neighborhoods. Much of the opposition stems from a lack of understanding of what affordable housing is — and isn’t. For example, individuals making anywhere between 30 to 80 percent of the area median income (AMI) can qualify for affordable housing. There are also several different subcategories of affordable housing: Low-Income Public Housing: …
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