Things are looking up!

You wouldn’t think anyone could actually say things are looking up when you have an economy that sports an 8.3 unemployment rate…would you? Well, believe it or not…things ARE looking up. In the industrial markets you can point to a number of factors:

1) Positive absorption in 2011.
2) Reduced vacancy rates (drops of as much as 2% in most regional markets).
3) Increased employment (numbers that exceed 250,000 plus jobs the last couple of months).

I myself (not being a scientific guy) use the “duck factor” (you know…”if it walks like a duck…”):

1) The leasing and sales sheets for Q3 and Q4 2011. Look at those and you’ll see a significant uptick in the CRE business just in the past 8 months.
2) Showings at available properties. Also up significantly in the past 8 months.

One can argue if the sales and leases late last year (see the Sales/Lease Data link on our website) were just an anomaly AND that activity doesn’t always translate to transactions. I would agree. But this time (versus other “upticks” in the last three or four years) it feels different. This uptick “feels” like it’s here to stay. The real question (to me) is how strong will it be.

Keep smiling!

Mark