News

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…

  July 9, 2024 (BAKERSFIELD, CA) – Lee & Associates, the largest broker-owned commercial real estate firm in North America, announced today that their Central California office has transitioned from a satellite office to a freestanding office, granting them access to Lee & Associates unique capital structure benefits. Additionally, the office will aid in growing connectivity, resources, and leadership in the Central Coast region. The Lee & Associates Central California team, which opened as a Satellite in February…

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…

  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…

  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…

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…

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…

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…

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…