Each Wednesday, The Wrap presents a compilation of recent noteworthy commercial real estate stories from a variety of publications. Below are links to five stories that caught our eyes in recent days.
- Outlet Malls Move Closer to Cities in Upending of Rules by Allison Prang of Bloomberg.
Key excerpt:
“After years of outperforming regular malls, outlets are increasingly encroaching on downtown shopping districts. The shift is part of a painful dislocation for brick-and-mortar retailers, which are abandoning decades of etiquette as they chase a dwindling number of shoppers.
‘We’re becoming more outlet-focused for sure in the United States,’ said Laurent Vasilescu, an analyst at Macquarie Capital in New York. Department stores and other full-price retailers — once the preferred place for clothing brands to showcase their wares — don’t offer the same kind of growth as outlets.”
- Investor Sentiment Hits New High by Paul Bubny of GlobeSt.
Key excerpt:
“MMI [Marcus & Millichap] attributes the positive sentiment to several different factors. First and foremost, it reflects continued performance improvement across all property types. ‘The trends are building momentum, especially for the property types that have lagged behind through the recovery so far,’ says Hessam Nadji, chief strategy officer and director of specialty divisions at MMI. ‘Those sectors, particularly office and retail, are now beginning to catch up.’”
- JLL: Atlanta industrial real estate market "further validation" of economic expansion by Doug Sams of the Atlanta Business Chronicle.
Key excerpt:
“At the same time, metro Atlanta — which boasts one of the top five industrial markets in the nation — should absorb at least 16 million square feet of industrial space this year, and that may be a conservative number. Vacancy should drop to less than 8 percent, a level Atlanta hasn't seen in 15 years.”
- Accelerating Housing Costs in U.S. Squeeze Renters, Says NAR by World Property Journal.
Key excerpt:
“Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, says the disparity between rent and income growth has widened to unhealthy levels and is making it harder for renters to become homeowners. ‘In the past five years, a typical rent rose 15 percent while the income of renters grew by only 11 percent,’ he said. ‘The gap has worsened in many areas as rents continue to climb and the accelerated pace of hiring has yet to give workers a meaningful bump in pay.’”
- Latest Wave of New Apartments Shows Good Absorption by Bendix Anderson of National Real Estate Investor.
Key excerpt:
“According to Reis Inc., the percentage of vacant apartments did inch higher in many of the towns that had the most new construction. However, vacancy rates remain low overall. ‘Even with this large influx of new inventory over the past three years, the 2014 year-end vacancy rates of all but three of these cities are below their historical averages,’ says Brad Doremus, senior analyst for research and economics at data firm Reis, Inc. Those three cities include Washington, D.C., and Raleigh-Durham, N.C., each of which experienced an increase of at least 200 basis points. New York had a vacancy rate increase of over 120 basis points over that period.”