U.S. industrial property market shows signs of life
transport job postings
jump in August
The ailing U.S. industrial property market showed a pulse in the second quarter
for the first time in two years. However, the patient is far from healthy.
That’s the takeaway from a report issued in early September by real estate and
industrial services giant Jones Lang LaSalle (JLL). According to a JLL survey of
38 markets, the average industrial vacancy rate declined to 10. 4 percent in the
second quarter from 10. 6 percent in the first quarter, the first sequential decline
in vacancy rates since the financial crisis exploded in September 2008.
JLL’s second-quarter North America Industrial Outlook showed that average “net
absorption”—the amount of space being leased relative to the space being
returned to the market—stood at 11. 1 million square feet in the quarter. However,
the net absorption figure through the first half of 2010 remained at minus 7. 4 million square feet, meaning leasing activity, while improving, is still not keeping up
with the amount of space being vacated, according to the JLL survey.
Markets like New Jersey and California’s Inland Empire, where prices have
plummeted since the recession began, showed positive net absorption year to
date, the survey found. In addition, the Dallas market has reported positive leasing activity, the report said.
Craig Meyer, managing director and head of JLL’s logistics and industrial serv-
ices group, said the category remains vulnerable to any downshifts in the econ-
omy. “While we can report some overall positive news for the sector, we are still
very much at the mercy of this precarious economy,” he said in a statement.
“Declining consumer confidence, the fading impact of the federal stimulus sup-
port, and worldwide economic volatility are forcing many industrial landlords,
tenants, and investors to look back over their shoulders in fear of a double-dip
recession.”
The nation’s industrial markets are not moving in lockstep. For example, in
markets like Indianapolis and the Inland Empire, 350,000-square-foot proper-
ties are becoming increasingly difficult to locate. By contrast, there is an abun-
dance of 100,000- to 200,000-square-foot facilities virtually throughout the
country, the report said. ;
—M.S.
they said it:
Twenty years from now you
will be more disappointed by the
things you didn’t do than by the ones
you did do. So throw off the bowlines.
Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch
the trade winds in your sails. Explore.
Dream. Discover.
“
”
—Mark Twain, waterways maven, novelist
Online postings for transportation
jobs tracked by a job aggregation
firm rose in August by 119 percent,
the biggest year-over-year increase
among the 12 industries the firm
tracks. According to Indeed.com,
the transport sector’s growth rate
was nearly double the rate for the
information technology sector,
which was the next fastest-growing
industry for postings with a year-
over-year increase of 61 percent.
