Industrial market performance across North America continued to downshift in the first half. Although net absorption remains positive, demand for industrial space has fallen to the lowest levels in years as higher interest rates to reduce inflation also slows economic growth. Read More…
Lee & Associates Q1 2024 Economic Report
Interest rate hikes by central banks aiming to tame inflation and tenants battling supply-chain and other issues continue to slow industrial demand across the United States and Canada. Read More…
Lee & Associates Q4 2023 Economic Report
The drop in demand for North American office space deepened in 2023. Tenants in the United States shed 71 million SF in 2023, slightly more than in the Covid lockdown year 2020, as a renewed focus on efficient use of space led to further footprint reductions and higher overall vacancy. Demand for space in Canada also closed the year in the red. Since the beginning of 2020, U.S. net absorption has contracted by 188.6…
Lee & Associates Q3 2023 Economic Report
U.S. net growth in the third quarter totaled 29.9 million SF compared to 94 million SF for the same period last year. Year-to-date net absorption is 110.2 million SF, down 62% from the same period last year. There was 411.7 million SF of growth in 2022. The 524.7 million SF of net absorption in 2021 stands as the record, but the current pace of tenant expansion is the slowest since 2012 and comes as…
Lee & Associates Q2 2023 Economic Report
The Commerce Department said the U.S. economy grew at a 2.4% annual rate in the second quarter, an increase from the 2% gain in Q1, defying both expectations and attempts by the Federal Reserve to slow it down to curb inflation. Economists are now scaling back their prediction that national output will be pushed into a recession this year due to recent interest rate hikes by the Federal Reserve to reduce inflation. The central bank…
Lee & Associates Q2 2023 Market Reports
In a reversal from the ballooning logistics capacities required during the pandemic, demand for space has slowed across North America. After continuously rebuilding inventories from the fall of 2021 through Q3 last year, many retailers and wholesalers are taking a breather, pausing further inventory accumulation out of caution over the economic outlook. In the U.S., second-quarter net absorption was down 58% year over year, and 2023 is on track to post the weakest annual growth…
Lee & Associates Q1 2023 Economic Report
The nation’s gross domestic product slowed dramatically in the first quarter, reflecting reduced production of goods and services that rose at a seasonally adjusted 1.1% annual rate in the first three months of the year. Nevertheless, the Q1 data released by the Commerce Department shows that consumers still are spending despite higher prices driven by high inflation, which the Federal Reserve is trying to stifle by raising interest rates. Spending on travel, restaurants and other…
Lee & Associates Q1 2023 Industrial, Office, Retail and Multifamily Market Reports
There was a sharp first-quarter decline in U.S. tenant demand for industrial space as wholesalers and retailers reconsider their inventory levels out of caution over the economic outlook. Net absorption in the first quarter totaled 39.4 million SF, a 57% drop from the record set a year ago. Demand for Canadian industrial space in Q1, however, gained nearly 21% year over year. The overall U.S. vacancy rate settled at 4.4%, an increase of 40 basis…
Lee & Associates Q4 2022 Economic Report
The U.S. economy expanded at a solid annual rate of 2.9% in the fourth quarter of 2022, down from 3.2% at the end of Q3, according to the Commerce Department’s Bureau of Economic Analysis…Read Full Report