Archives for October 2016

San Fransisco Downtown

Tech job growth has transformed some cities into office powerhouses, such as San Francisco, which has the effect, in some cases of tenants seeking lower rents and less expensive labor in cities such as Phoenix and Austin, Texas.

Jobs have shot up at a healthy clip in the top tech markets. For example, San Francisco saw a 47 percent jump in its high-tech job base from 2013 to 2015, to almost 70,000 workers, according to a recent report by CBRE. In Phoenix, high-tech job growth was 45 percent from 2013 to 2015, to almost 50,000 workers. Both Austin and Charlotte, N.C., had jumps in high-tech jobs of about 33 percent in that timeframe, according to the CBRE report.
The tech sector has grown to account for one-fifth of all office leasing today, says Colin Yasukochi, director of research and analysis at CBRE. The 30 top tech markets all saw office job growth of more than 16 percent, outpacing the national average of 13.7 percent. However, demand for tech talent in top markets, such as San Francisco, Silicon Valley and New York City, far outpaces supply, forcing universities and governments to scramble to attract students into hot job fields.

Click here to view “High-Tech Software Job and Job Growth”

“The schools and cities see a competitive advantage of channeling resources to attracting tech students, and the companies are working with the federal government to expand the visa programs to get more people into the country with the proper skills,” Yasukochi says.
The markets at the high-end of the job growth spectrum are seeing sharply increasing rents and decreasing vacancies, he says. San Francisco has held the throne of high-tech jobs king for five years, with technology companies dominating office leasing in the city. Tech space accounts for 54 percent of all leasing in San Francisco, and has boosted net office space absorption by almost 11 percent the past two years, CBRE says. Rents increased to $65.20 per sq. ft. in the third quarter, and vacancies leveled off at around 9 percent due to a lull in the tech markets in the first half. But some analysts suggest that the IPO market could come roaring back after the election, fueling a new round of growth, according to a third-quarter Savills Studley report.
Yasukochi says the frenetic pace set by San Francisco leasing has landlords firmly in charge, enough so that tenants are looking to other markets for talent and cheaper rents. He points to Phoenix and surrounding cities as a more stable, spread-out market that has room to grow. The city’s vacancy rate is twice that of San Francisco’s, while the rents are one-third the cost, according to the Savills Studley report. Downtown Tempe and Scottsdale are leading the office growth in the Phoenix market and the city’s warehouse district is getting an overhaul to attract tech tenants, Yasukochi says.
“You have to think that it’s not just the office space to consider, it’s also the cost of living for your employees, the housing costs—some top talent will go elsewhere,” he says. “In Phoenix, it’s more suburban, the clusters tend to be more dispersed.”
The bubble can’t last forever, Yasukochi says, and just like most industries, tech office will tumble in when the cycle turns. However, he says he doesn’t see another dot-com bust. “I think it’s a long-term growth story, and has established itself as a top industry,” he says. “I think we’re a lot more stable than we were at the turn of the century.”
By: Robert Carr (National Real Estate Investor)
Click here to view source article.

Commercial spaces are benefitting from homey staging touches that draw client interest and close deals. Read article here.

Commercial real estate property owners are using professional stagers to help sell their properties and promote the company brand. Interior designers are aiding property owners in this effort.

By: REALTORMag
“When it comes to creating favorable impressions during showings, commercial practitioners are starting to take a page out of the residential sales playbook. Professional stagers are reporting an uptick in interest from commercial brokers who recognize that an office suite, a retail space, or even a vacant warehouse can benefit from an appearance boost. While only about 5 percent of commercial brokers currently use professional stagers to help get a building or retail space leased or sold, according to Barb Schwartz, founder of stagedhomes.com, she and other staging pros see enormous growth potential. In the commercial space, staging can help with your clients’ company branding while offering value for a transaction.”
Click here to view source article.
 

One thing Albuquerque doesn’t have is the big-city skyline that other cities like Dallas and Chicago and NYC can boast. High-rise buildings and office towers are not abundant in the Duke City. But unlike those cities, we have more room to spread out, expanding outward, not upward.

While Albuquerque may lack tall, centrally located office towers, there are many office spaces throughout the city. The SunPort Corporate Center currently has the most available space with 234,017 square feet up for grabs. Second is the Gibson Medical Center with 200,000 square feet available. The Gibson Medical Center is also the largest office space with a total square footage of 529,178, according to the Commercial Association of Realtors New Mexico.

The SunPort Corporate Center at Buena Vista Dr. SE and Randolph Road SE. Stephanie Guzman

As of September, there is 14.2 million square feet of commercial space for sale, according to CARNM data, and 12.5 million square feet available for lease. The average lease rate for office space is $14.60 per square foot and CARNM currently lists 1,274 available office spaces.

The average lease rate for industrial space is $6.65 per square foot with 420 available listings and the average lease rate for retail/commercial space is $18.69 with 818 available listings.

Available Office Buildings

By: Juliana Vadnais (Albuquerque Business First)

Click here to view source article.