Commercial recovery up ahead, Realtors predict

Commercial recovery up ahead, Realtors predict
ICSC SCTWeek June 18th, 2010

U.S. commercial real estate values could start to recover next year, says the National Association of Realtors. Values will keep declining and vacancies rising across all property types through the rest of this year, though moderating somewhat, the group says.

Multifamily property will lead, the association says, pointing out that the vacancy rate for apartments eased from 7.4 percent in the fourth quarter of 2009 to 7.3 percent in this first quarter. The group says this will drop even further in the second quarter, to 6.9 percent. Some 413,000 square feet of retail space will be vacated during the second quarter, the association says, compared to 8.1 million square feet of office space and 30.3 million square feet of industrial properties. In percentage terms, second-quarter vacancy rates will be about 17.3 percent for office space, 14.6 percent for industrial and 12.7 percent for retail.