I was under the impression that net absorption was going to be lower in the third quarter than it turned out to be. It is good news that it wasn't, and though I’ve been a little leery about the industrial market due to weak job numbers and the large impact of build-to-suit projects on that net absorption, I’m almost ready to declare the industrial market completely healed, throw the confetti, toot the horn and start being an optimist.
When a person is expecting bad news, good news has a greater impact on their mood than it would have had had they been expecting good news. The reverse is true as well. It’s important for us to check our optimism and pessimism at the door when prognosticating, and instead look at the data and the trends it suggests, draw on our experience with past trends, and come to a reasonable conclusion.
A full year before the beginning of the Great Recession, I noticed that industrial vacancy rates were on the rise. Gross absorption was slipping a bit, but we were adding tons of new space that was not pre-leasing well. While the trends suggested to me that demand was flagging, the market had conditioned itself to expect strong demand, and proceeded on that assumption. Why let the facts get in the way of a good story, after all. That being said, I certainly did not expect demand to suddenly fall off a cliff at the end of 2007.
Now we’ve been engaged in the Great Recession for nearly six years. Gross absorption is healthy but not really on the increase, but net absorption is very strong, suggesting that existing tenants are no longer downsizing or closing their doors. The lack of new industrial jobs would tend to corroborate this impression on the market, as a lack of closures and downsizing does not necessarily translate into job growth. This is good news, and yet I’m having a hard time expecting it to continue.
So, what’s the story in Southern Nevada’s commercial real estate markets? As much as I fear admitting it, I think Southern Nevada has finally entered the recovery phase (I’m crossing my fingers right now hoping that the fourth quarter doesn’t make me look like an idiot). While job growth is not terribly strong (though this might have something to do with how the data is collected), most economic measures are leveling off or improving, and the real estate numbers have been pretty strong across the board.
The industrial market looks poised to absorb more space in 2013 than it absorbed through the entire Great Recession, and if net absorption remains somewhat constant, the industrial market will be ready for new speculative construction in about 12 months. Retail has been in positive net absorption territory for about two years, and though office is still seeing declining asking rents, its net absorption has been pretty strong for the past year-and-a-half. Office is not doing well in 2013, but that has something to do with continued weakness in the financial services sector (including real estate) and the health sector (health services companies tend to take space in professional office space more than medical office space these days, much to the regret of medical office landlords).
Office notwithstanding, the Great Recession appears to be over. Go ahead and throw some confetti - get it out of your system - and brace yourself for 2014.
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