DC Velocity - August 2019

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The supply of industrial and logistics real estate ticked up slightly in the second quarter, signaling potential relief for companies seeking warehousing and manufacturing space after nearly nine years of declining availability, according to a report from commercial real-estate giant CBRE.

CBRE’s analysis found that the availability rate for industrial space across 51 major U.S. markets increased by six basis points to 7. 1 percent in the second quarter from the first. The company also said it had revised its first-quarter result to a two-basis-point increase, instead of a half-basis-point decline. That update caps the market’s historic run of declining availability at 34 consecutive quarters, or eight and a half years.

Despite the slim increase, the availability rate is still down 12 basis points on a year-over-year basis, CBRE said. The company defines availability as the sum of vacant space plus space that is currently occupied but otherwise being marketed for use by new tenants.

“We long have forecast that availabil-
ity would bottom out and then slowly
increase as a natural progression for the
red-hot industrial market in the U.S.,”
Richard Barkham, CBRE head of Americas
research and global chief economist, said
in a release. “In the future, this might
provide respite for e-commerce compa-
nies and other users that have faced many
years with scant availability of space. At
the moment, though, the market remains
quite tight.”
Over the past year, demand and supply
have been relatively balanced, with devel-
opers delivering 206 million square feet of
new buildings and users newly occupying
208 million square feet. “We do expect
the factors driving demand to ease slight-
ly in the coming quarters as economic
growth slows,” Barkham said. “This won’t
be anything dramatic, as the overall econ-
omy is in good shape. But market con-
ditions will ease slightly, particularly for
larger units.”

16 DC VELOCITY AUGUST 2019 www.dcvelocity.com newsworthy

A proposed federal rule would help people enter the trucking work force more easily by granting states more flexibility in awarding commercial driver’s licenses (CDLs), the U.S. Department of Transportation (DOT) said in June.

The rule would streamline the licensing process for men and women interested in trucking jobs by allowing states greater flexibility in conducting skills tests for the CDL, according to the DOT’s Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) arm. The change would alleviate testing delays, and eliminate inconvenience and expense to the CDL applicant, all without compromising safety, FMCSA said.

Federal rules currently do not permit a CDL skills instructor who is also authorized by the state to administer the CDL skills test to perform both the instruction and the qualifying testing for the same applicant. The new proposal would eliminate that restriction and permit states the discretion to allow qualified third-party skills trainers to also conduct the skills testing for the same individual, FMCSA said.

The potential change in regulations is the latest effort by FMCSA to encourage more workers to join the truck-driving ranks, following programs that would make it easier for military veterans and for younger drivers to gain their CDLs.