June 14th, 2011, By Dana Haugh
Long Island’s vacancy rates in the commercial real estate market is showing a positive trend in for 2011, however slight they might be. Positive absorption rates for the industrial market in the first quarter of 2011 ended with 280,004 square feet— quite an improvement over the 1.7 million square feet of negative absorption in 2010 and industrial vacancy rates fell from 5.5% to 5.3%.
The average rent in the industrial market decreased slightly from $8.35/sf to $8.15/sf, maintaining its low rate from the previous year’s $9.27/sf. So what does this mean? Essentially the lower rental rates have had a positive effect on the movement of available space in the market. So if you’re looking for industrial space, it’s still a good time to lease.
The same goes for office space. Long Island’s office market finally saw a positive turn when 2011’s first quarter ended with a positive absorption of 137,670 square feet (after previous three quarters of negative). Vacancy rates fell to 12.3% (from 13.1% in the last quarter of 2010) and average rent also saw a decrease of $0.15/sf since last year’s fourth quarter. The market continues to keep its rent prices down, remaining 6.4% below the $28.89/sf that was asked back in 2008.
Excellent rates and the resurgence of affordable lease space means the commercial market, as predicted, is slowly taking a turn for the better. Now’s the time to buy or lease— lock in the price while you can.
All information and pictures gathered from Newmark Knight Frank
