Memphis Industrial market going up, Office market stable

The Memphis Business Journal has two articles up today on the state of the Memphis market. They got their numbers from the first quarter CBRE marketview reports.

The first article focuses on the Office market.

Office vacancy in the first quarter was 17.4 percent, up slightly from 17.2 percent in fourth quarter 2009. This was the ninth quarter in a row with increased vacancy, but still below the U.S. average of 19.1 percent.

The article goes on to state that it's still a "tenant's market". Yes. Yes it is. If I were a tenant with a lease coming due in the next 6 to 24 months, now is the time to approach your property manager and negotiate your next lease. If they aren't game, there's 17.4 percent of the office market that would LOVE to have you as a tenant.

The second article focuses on the Industrial market.

The industrial market experienced six tenants signing leases for more than 2.1 million total square feet in the first quarter.

The average asking lease rate in Memphis dropped $0.01 to $2.62 per square foot in the first quarter, a slowing of the $0.10 drop from third quarter 2009 to fourth quarter 2009.

Vacancy dropped from 19 percent in fourth quarter 2009 to 17 percent in first quarter. The vacancy rate is expected to drop again in the second quarter, when more than 1.5 million square feet of positive absorption is expected.

That's great news for commercial real estate in Memphis. The Industrial market is the backbone of commercial real estate here in town, and we've got a lot of it to go around. Good news for everyone.