MARKET DRIVERS
THE INDUSTRIAL MARKET in Los Angeles County is still in extremely good shape, with vacancy rates at around 2.0% among all but a few regions. After seeing record growth in early 2022, market momentum has moderated as vacancy levels have slightly increased.
IN 2023, REITs are expected to have slower economic growth and higher interest rates. Recent sales have been robust as institutional investors have given industrial buildings more attention than they have given to other commercial assets. Rental rates are higher in submarkets where there is much more competition between industrial users and other property users. Some had reported impressive operational results, mainly because the lease agreements on the real estate assets were already in place when borrowing rates started to rise and leasing demand slowed.
ECONOMIC REVIEW
LOS ANGELES COUNTY’S unemployment rate in November 2022 was 4.9%, unchanged from the previous month’s adjusted rate and lower than 6.9% from the period a year ago.
THE PORT OF LOS ANGELES handled 9,182,287 TEUs in 2022, higher than the 8,589,554 TEUs that the Port of Long Beach has been using.
NEAR TERM OUTLOOK
IN THE LOS ANGELES MARKET industrial real estate is one of the most sought-after property types. If demand outpaces supply in the sector, the asking rent model for warehouse and distribution space predicts a 9.0% increase in rent in the United States in 2023 and a 5.0% increase in rent in 2024.
IN L.A. COUNTY, the shortage of suitable land sites has historically hampered growth, and as a result, the construction pipeline is constrained in some areas. The tendency is for specific areas to be dismantled and repurposed as cutting-edge logistics centers, while others, particularly in West Los Angeles, have been transformed into imaginative mixed-use complexes.
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