Seattle’s Office, Retail Markets Soar in Grubb & Ellis Forecast
By Alex Girda, Associate Editor Seattle appears to be poised to rank high among invesment’s frontrunners again in 2012. A recent Grubb and Ellis Co. report places Seattle’s office market in second place nationwide during a year in which that recovery will continue [...]
By Alex Girda, Associate Editor
Seattle appears to be poised to rank high among invesment’s frontrunners again in 2012. A recent Grubb and Ellis Co. report places Seattle’s office market in second place nationwide during a year in which that recovery will continue at a steady, albeit slow pace.
Seattle is second only to San Francisco, another market that has experienced resurgent demand in a constrained national market. Last year’s top choices, New York City and Washington D.C., have fallen to number 9 and out of the first 10 cities respectively. This is most likely a consequence of the impact of the euro zone’s collapse on the East Coast, the Puget Sound Business Journal reports.
In terms of retail investment, Seattle holds its own in the Grubb & Ellis rankings, occupying fifth place behind Los Angeles, Washington, D.C., Boston and San Diego. Activity is far above the national average, charting at 132, compared to the baseline score of 100 on Grubb & Ellis’s Momentum Index.
As for the industrial market, transit and distribution activity considerably outpace the supply. The good news is that by avoiding overbuilding, Seattle has also escaped the problems caused by a surplus of space. Recovery is expected to continue unevenly in 2012.
