Taking a bit of a break from the residential real estate world, let’s have a look at the commercial real estate picture. 2005 was good to commercial real estate:
Retailers in the Seattle and Bellevue area gobbled up store space at the fastest pace since the 1990s, responding to a strong regional economy and reports the Puget Sound area didn’t have as much retail space as other areas in the country.
…
Prime storefront space in downtown Seattle and Bellevue is nearly 100 percent occupied, virtually every shopping mall has expanded or is about to, and nearly a dozen suburban and semi-rural towns are building new retail districts as part of mixed-use projects.
The article is light on numbers, so it’s hard to say what kind of change prices saw, but I think it’s safe to say that now that vacancy is near zero, rents will be going up if they aren’t already. Lucky retailers.
(Tom Boyer, Seattle Times, 12.28.2005)
Anonymous » Jan 4, 2006 at 2:49 pm
According to the “housing tracker” site (www.benengebreth.org/housingtracker/): Seattle has at long last joined the list of US cities whose homes are no longer appreciating.
Only 2 major cities continue appreciating, (albeit slightly): Raleigh,NC and Houston. I’m sure they will be joining the rest of the US in the downward slide soon!!
Tim: can you add a link to the “housing Tracker” site? It is fascinating to watch the bottom fall out.