BOSTON– Greater Boston’s industrial real estate market had a strong start to 2016, with 387,000 square feet of positive absorption, according to “indSTATus – Q1 2016,” a research report from Transwestern | RBJ. The report highlights warehouse, manufacturing and flex facilities.
“The overall results for the quarter were strong, with warehouse and flex property types performing particularly well,” said Northeast Research Director Chase Bourdelaise. “After setting a new record low for vacancy in fourth-quarter 2015, the warehouse market tightened even further this quarter. We anticipate continued positive results throughout 2016.”
WAREHOUSE
• Vacancy dropped 0.9 percentage points to 10.1 percent, a new record low, on 508,000 square feet of positive absorption.
• During the current 15-quarter streak of positive absorption, 6 million square feet of warehouse space has been taken off the market.
• Asking lease rates edged over the $6 mark for the first time since 2008, at $6.04 per square foot.
MANUFACTURING
• Negative absorption of 121,000 square feet pushed vacancy rates up to 11 percent from 9.9 percent last quarter.
• Despite the increase, the vacancy rate is still 6.8 percentage points lower than four years ago.
• Asking lease rates rose from $8.09 per square foot last quarter to $8.28 per square foot.
FLEX
• A strong quarter in the flex market saw vacancy fall to 12.8 percent from last quarter’s 13.9 percent on 292,000 square feet of positive absorption.
• During the past two quarters, the market has had more than 600,000 square feet of positive absorption.
• Asking lease rates for flex properties hit their highest levels since 2005, jumping from $9.22 per square foot last quarter to $10.10 per square foot.
