Fort Myers magazine 108604 SWFL brochure - web | Page 64

ARE
WE THERE YET?
SWFL COMMERCIAL MARKETS
ARE IMPROVING
T
he Residential Housing
Market has gained its
traction
and
should
continue at a steady and sustainable
rate. The question is has the
Commercial Market in SWFL
gained enough traction yet to
achieve the same steady, sustainable
improvement for years to come?
The Retail Sector continues to
lead the pack for the Commercial
Market with vacancy rates holding
steady in the 7% range and rental
rates showing modest improvement
per the mid-year 2015 CoStar
Report. Last year’s pace continues
for the Industrial Market which
shows the strongest recovery of all
sectors. Vacancy rates fell 50 basis
points from the previous year’s 3rd
Quarter to 6.4% currently. Rental
rates also are increasing. Industrial
construction is on the rise as the
supply of industrial buildings
available for purchase has dwindled
significantly. As in my last report,
the Office Market lags behind the
other two sectors with double digit
vacancy rates albeit improving
slightly from the previous year of
12.5% to 11.50% currently. The
changes in how we do business
today (i.e., internet and home based
operations) will continue to impact
www.fortmyers.org 62
the need for new office space in the
years to come.
The graph below depicts the
differences between the last two
real estate downturns at a national
level as compared to here in
Lee County. It was provided by
Maxwell-Hendry-Simmons, a local
and highly respected Real Estate
Appraisal Firm in their most recent
Market Snapshot release. You’ll
note that we were “Ground Zero”
in relationship to the national levels
with the most recent downturn
starting in 2005. In the downturn of
the 1990’s economic fundamentals
(i.e., low unemployment, stable