With the uncertain times we are in, it's important now more than ever to be as informed as possible on what's going on in our industry. Our team of experts are here to help. Check out these insights from Colliers | Columbus leaders on trends in the office and industrial markets. CLICK HERE to read the full reports.
Columbus recorded 2,768,540 square feet of industrial net absorption in Q2.
What is your take on the current state of the industrial market?
An encouraging sign is that multiple new requirements surfaced since the COVID-19 outbreak, and term leases were signed for spaces ranging from 50,000 square feet to 200,000 square feet. Bloated inventories at traditional retailers combined with increased e-commerce demand have created a consistent need for immediate industrial space over the past three months. This has led to strong activity in the second quarter, as Columbus saw over 2 million square feet of positive absorption. I predict the same to occur in the third quarter.
-Shane Woloshan, SIOR
Brokerage Senior Executive Vice President | Principal
Ten industrial projects comprising of 3,699,854 square feet broke ground in Columbus this quarter.
Are you surprised by the number of projects that broke ground this quarter and do you think we’ll see more construction start this year?
Several of these projects were on track to begin anyways and were started early in the quarter. If you look at the particular projects, several had some pre-leasing commitments, along with another developer leasing up the majority of an existing building. Demand remains light still coming out of the reopening but we see a good bit of pent up demand that will hopefully come off the sidelines in the coming quarter(s).
-Joel Yakovac, SIOR
Brokerage Senior Executive Vice President | Principal
Eight industrial properties totaling 4.1 million square feet sold around the region for a total sales volume of $365 million.
What is your prediction when it comes to sales activity?
The lack of sales this quarter is attributable to a lack of supply more than anything. Several sales were put on hold or weren’t listed due to COVID-19. I think this plays to a larger factor overall than to a sign of softening in the demand for industrial product. If anything, small to mid-size owner/user sales continue to be strong despite supply still remaining an issue. Investment sales will continue to be light due to lack of actively-listed supply. There are investors aggressively pursuing off market and unsolicited options to make something out of nothing, if possible. Further, we believe, but have not yet seen, a push into industrial from those traditionally not in the market – specifically from traditional office and/or retail owners. This won’t be a full divesting of their other holdings, but a further diversification and interest in what may be a more stable product type moving forward. Ultimately, I still see supply being an issue, and sales volume may be stunted due to that while I believe demand will remain strong.
-Joel Yakovac, SIOR
Brokerage Senior Executive Vice President | Principal
The office market saw 39,011 square feet of net absorption in the second quarter.
Do you anticipate increased leasing activity throughout the rest of the year?
I do see activity increasing the rest of the year, in part due to activity being very slow over the last few months. Each week we seem to be doing a few more showings as tenants become more comfortable (albeit cautious) with touring. Many of them still have lease expirations looming so they will have compressed timelines to potentially tour and make decisions. -Andrew Jameson, SIOR CCIM
Brokerage Senior Executive Vice President | Principal
There is currently 480,000 square feet of sublease space available in the Columbus office market.
Columbus has seen an increase in sublease availability recently. How do you think this will play out the rest of the year?
We have seen an uptick in the number of subleases on the market and rumored subleases possibly coming. This will bring a competitive dynamic that Landlords should be aware of as many subleases are furnished spaces with flexible terms.
-Andrew Jameson, SIOR CCIM
Brokerage Senior Executive Vice President | Principal
This quarter, 11 office properties totaling 97,956 square feet sold in the area for a total sales volume of $9 million.
What is your prediction for sales activity due to the COVID-19 outbreak?
I think that overall sales will be down compared to last year, but we will see a flurry of major sales occur during the second half of the year. We are also likely to see several significant properties come to market that will not transact due to the spread between Buyer’s and Seller’s value expectations.
-Daniel Dunsmoor, SIOR
Executive Vice President | Principal
There is currently 1,030,224 square feet of office product under construction.
What do you think we’ll see over the next year regarding new office construction?
Other than Grandview Crossing I do not think that we will see another 100% speculative office building break ground in 2020. Developers will need to have a significant amount of preleasing completed in order to have the confidence to break ground on a new office project during these times.
-Daniel Dunsmoor, SIOR
Executive Vice President | Principal
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