national office report
Transcription
national office report
2015 NATIONAL OFFICE REPORT Real Estate Investment Research Research Services 2398 E. Camelback Road | Suite 550 | Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602) 687-6700 www.MarcusMillichap.com 2015 National Office Report To Our Valued Clients: Economic and investment conditions throughout commercial real estate are the healthiest they have been in years. The significant acceleration of GDP growth last year set the economy on a course of self-sustaining expansion, broadly led by uptrends in business and residential investment, exports and consumption. Payroll expansion hit a 15-year high, supporting hints of emerging wage growth, and equity returns lifted consumer confidence to its highest level since the early 2000s. Household wealth now measures 17 percent above the 2007 peak and corporate profits stand near record levels. Risks to economic momentum remain, however. Weakened international economic growth, particularly in Europe, may detract from U.S. exports, and the rapid fall of oil prices could stall or reduce business investment as uncertainty once again edges higher. A counterbalance is the positive impact lower oil pricing will likely have on consumer spending. The Federal Reserve concluded its quantitative easing program last year amid the positive coalescence of sustained economic improvement, strengthened hiring trends, and surging consumer and business confidence. Going forward, the Fed will walk a tightrope as the accelerating economy builds momentum. Lower energy costs will restrain inflation, reducing pressure on the Fed to raise rates. Nonetheless, it’s probable the Fed will begin to tap the brakes this year, nudging the Federal Reserve rates upward, but that is unlikely to occur before midyear and the actions will not be dramatic. With demand for U.S. Treasurys surging, particularly from international investors, interest rates once again plunged at the start of the year. This will likely influence Fed policies, but a host of forces other than Fed rate hikes and inflation will influence the trajectory of interest rates and cap rates, including investor sentiment, income growth and global cash flows. Office properties have begun to post significant operational gains as the modest supply growth over the last few years meets steady hiring gains. The accelerating momentum in tenant expansions and new leasing activity, together with the rapid reduction in the number and quality of space options available to tenants, presents a compelling theme for office investment. Further, new business formations and the reemergence of more cost-conscious tenants will drive demand for Class B/C space, particularly in Central Business Districts and suburban locales with desirable amenities. To help you with planning and executing your investment strategies in the coming year, we present the 2015 National Office Report. Included is our National Office Property Index (NOPI), a forward-looking ranking of 46 major metros that factors in emerging trends and forecasts. We hope the included information offers insights and information that will help you generate exceptional results this year. Sincerely, Al PontiusJohn Chang Senior Vice President, National Director First Vice President, National Office and Industrial Group Research Services page 1 2015 National Office Report National Perspective Executive Summary National Office Property Index Specialty Indexes National Economy National Office Overview Capital Markets Office Investment Outlook Medical Office Outlook 3 4-5 6-7 8 9 10 11 12-13 Market Overviews Atlanta Austin Baltimore Boston Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dallas/Fort Worth Denver Detroit Fort Lauderdale Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Statistical Summary Los Angeles Louisville Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis-St. Paul Nashville New Haven New York City Northern New Jersey Oakland Orange County Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Riverside-San Bernardino Sacramento Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Seattle-Tacoma St. Louis Tampa-St. Petersburg Washington, D.C. West Palm Beach 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32-33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 56 57 58 59 60 61 Client Services Office Locations62-63 Contacts, Sources and Definitions 64 Developed by Hessam Nadji, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer, and John Chang, First Vice President, Research Services. The Capital Markets section was co-authored by William E. Hughes, Senior Vice President, Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation. Additional contributions were made by Marcus & Millichap market analysts and investment brokerage professionals nationwide. page 2 Executive Summary National Office Property Index (NOPI) ■■ Software and tech firms clinched rankings for San Francisco (#1), San Jose (#2) and Seattle-Tacoma (#3), which edged out New York City (#4). Los Angeles (#14) slid from fifth place and momentum markets dislodged San Diego (#8) by one. Plunging vacancy and limited supply lifted Orange County (#5) three spots. ■■ Forecast vacancy declines exceeding 100 basis points and 3.0 percent-plus job growth propelled West Palm Beach (#28), Fort Lauderdale (#35) and Jacksonville (#38) each seven places; Tampa-St. Petersburg (#24) and Orlando (#34) advanced six and five places, respectively; and Miami (#7) improved four. Synergistic tech, energy and healthcare industries launched Denver (#6) three places and Nashville (#9) six spots. Austin (#11) rose six places and Dallas/Fort Worth (#20) leveled up five rungs. ■■ Supply risk relative to demand muted rankings for Phoenix (#21) and Washington, D.C. (#26). Northern New Jersey (#41), Cincinnati (#43) and Detroit (#46) posted large declines. Improved Midwestern rankings include Kansas City (#29) and Indianapolis (#30). Suburban vacancy clipped three spots from Chicago (#22). Columbus (#27) and Philadelphia (#25) stayed relatively stable. National Economy ■■ Employers added 2.95 million jobs in 2014, the strongest pace in 15 years. GDP growth surged 5.0 percent as of third quarter 2014, following 4.6 percent in the prior quarter. Nominal retail sales stand 18 percent higher than the prior peak, or 6.6 percent adjusted for inflation. ■■ Accelerated consumer spending, manufacturing and trade, parallel with an improved fiscal outlook, will energize business and residential fixed investment. Consensus estimates are 3.1 percent GDP growth in 2015 and an estimated 2.9 million to 3.1 million new jobs created. Upward pressure on wages will follow. ■■ The Federal Reserve concluded its quantitative easing program. Inflation remains in check, but liquidity creates upward pressure. Moderate rate increases are expected by midyear. National Office Market Overview ■■ Robust job creation in office-using business segments along with the renaissance in demand from small to midsize businesses bolstered leasing activity in less expensive Class B/C office space. ■■ Net absorption of 104 million square feet forecast in 2015 eclipses nearly 54 million square feet of completions. A diverse group of 15 markets comprise nearly 81 percent of expected new supply and 50 percent of demand. ■■ Strong dynamics in office fundamentals will reduce the national vacancy rate by 80 basis points to 14.5 percent, resulting in 4.1 percent asking rent growth. Capital Markets ■■ Investors assume more leasing and development risk and expand into more secondary markets despite ongoing cap rate compression. The 500-basis point spread over 10-year Treasurys remains higher than the long-term average. CBD assets command at least a 120-basis point yield premium relative to suburban assets. ■■ CMBS loans comprised nearly three-quarters of single-tenant loans in 2014 and dominated originations across all market tiers. Investment Outlook ■■ Limited supply in most metros has contributed to a tangible shift in market dynamics, with late-recovery markets poised for significant operational improvement, particularly in Florida. ■■ Office sales volume grew 18 percent, or approximately $126 billion, marking a seven-year high. Overall office values of $213 per square foot remain 9 percent below the 2007 peak and cap rates measure 7.1 percent. page 3 National Office Property Index Highest 2015 Completions Highest 2015 Emp. Growth 12,000,000 10,000,000 Square Feet 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 Da l C ity Ph oe ni Lo x s An ge le s Nonfarm Employment (Y-O-Y Change) De nv er 0 4% Yo rk 3% Au st in 2% N ew 1% H ou st la on s/ Fo rt W or th Sa n Se Jo at se tle -T ac om Sa n a Fr an ci sc o Austin Dallas/Fort Worth Portland Fort Lauderdale Denver Las Vegas Miami Jacksonville Nashville Orlando United States 0% Lowest 2015 Emp. Growth 2015 National Office Property Index Highest 2015 Net Absorption 10,000,000 Coastal and Tech Markets Dominate Top Ranking 8,000,000 7.5% 10.0% 12.5% 15.0% Vacancy Rate 16% 18% Vacancy Rate page 4 20% a nt la a on At st Bo om -T ac Se at tle C hi ca go s le o ge An s Fr n Sa Lo an ci sc se Jo th n rt Sa W or ity C k s/ Mid-Tier Metros Bypassed by Strongest Employment Markets Highest 2015 Vacancy Rates Phoenix Detroit Las Vegas Washington D.C. Northern New Jersey Dallas/Fort Worth New Haven Chicago West Palm Beach Cincinnati United States 14% lla Da N Lowest 2015 Vacancy Rates San Francisco Nashville New York City San Jose Portland Salt Lake City Louisville Seattle-Tacoma Columbus Austin United States 5.0% Yo r ew H ou st on Nonfarm Employment (Y-O-Y Change) Fo 0.75% 1.50% 2.25% 3.00% With few exceptions, the top-ranked markets include barriers to entry, low 6,000,000 vacancy and above-average benefit from office-using employment growth. These4,000,000 markets reflect an expanding spectrum of economic activity, including technology, trade, healthcare, professional and business services, and hos2,000,000 pitality. High-visibility locations for Google, LinkedIn, SalesForce.com and Uber clinched0 repeat top rankings for San Francisco (#1) and San Jose (#2). Seattle-Tacoma’s (#3) stellar growth in office-using jobs and dynamic tech firms edged out New York City (#4), despite perennial low vacancy and high demand from media and technology tenants. Plunging vacancy and surging Class A rents boosted Orange County (#5) three spots, and Denver’s (#6) economic diversity and outstanding job and population growth created an three-rung surge that dislodged San Diego (#8) by one place. Synergistic effects of tech and healthcare launched Nashville (#9) six rungs higher. Trade and robust growth in financial and business services lifted Miami (#7) four places. Austin (#11) picked up another six spots, ranking highly across most economic and commercial real estate performance metrics. Despite healthy market conditions, Portland (#10) and Boston (#12) slipped four and two positions, respectively, bested by more dynamic markets. Ranked fifth last year, Los Angeles (#14) tumbled due to comparatively less market vigor. Troubled by the uncertainty of oil prices, Houston (#15) dropped one spot. Square Feet Cleveland Washington, D.C. New Haven Cincinnati Chicago Kansas City Philadelphia Pittsburgh Detroit Northern New Jersey United States 0% 22% Despite significant improvement in space fundamentals, markets with stronger job forecasts surpassed many of the markets in this tier, such as Minneapolis-St. Paul (#16), Oakland (#17) and Charlotte (#18). Enormous spillover tenant demand from San Francisco lifted Oakland’s rent gains. Corporate expansions by regional and midsize firms nudged Atlanta (#19) up and kept Columbus (#27) stable as rents begin to achieve traction. Dallas/Fort Worth (#20) gained five positions, supported by remarkably high office-using job growth and tenant demand. Tampa-St. Petersburg (#24) and West Palm Beach (#28) also raced up the Index by six and seven spaces, respectively, poised for much stronger rent gains as momentum builds across Florida. Short-term supply risk relative to forecast demand muted rankings for Phoenix (#21) and Washington, D.C. (#26). Continued high vacancy in Chicago Sq 4,000,000 2,000,000 De nv er C ity Ph oe ni Lo x s An ge le s Yo rk Au st in N ew H ou Da st lla on s/ Fo rt W or th Sa n Se Jo at se tle -T ac om Sa n a Fr an ci sc o 0 National Office Property Index MSA Highest 2015 Net Absorption 10,000,000 Square Feet 8,000,000 6,000,000 4,000,000 2,000,000 At la nt a N ew H ou st on Yo rk Da C lla ity s/ Fo rt W or th Sa n Jo Sa se n Fr an ci sc Lo o s An ge le s C hi ca Se go at tle -T ac om a Bo st on 0 (#22) suburbs clipped three rungs from its ranking. Extremely low levels of supply strengthened market conditions for Kansas City (#29) and Indianapolis (#30), both advancing two places. Recovering Housing Markets Dominate Lower Rankings Late-recovery Florida markets made huge strides in the Index as forecast for vacancy declines in excess of 100 basis points and job growth greater than 3.0 percent propelled Orlando (#34), Fort Lauderdale (#35) and Jacksonville (#38) five to seven places. Similar dynamics fueled Las Vegas’ (#39) ascent from last place, but still-soft performance restrained Midwestern markets St. Louis (#36), Cincinnati (#43) and Detroit (#46) which each tumbled six to eight rungs. Cleveland fared better, climbing three places as significant redevelopment attracts more healthcare firms. Limited development tightened vacancy in Northern New Jersey (#41) and New Haven (#45), but tepid job growth pressured their rankings. Low supply and healthy office-using job growth advanced Baltimore (#37) four spots. Index Methodology The NOPI ranks 46 major office markets based upon a series of 12-month, forward-looking economic and supply and demand variables. Markets are ranked based on their cumulative weighted-average scores for various indicators, including forecast employment growth, vacancy, construction, housing affordability and rents. Weighing both the forecasts and incremental change over the next year, the Index is designed to indicate relative supply and demand conditions at the market level. Users of the Index are cautioned to keep several important points in mind. First, the NOPI is not designed to predict the performance of individual investments. A carefully chosen property in a bottom-ranked market could easily outperform a poor choice in a top-ranked market. Second, the NOPI is a snapshot of a one-year time horizon. A market facing difficulties in the near term may provide excellent long-term prospects, and vice versa. Third, a market’s ranking may fall from one year to the next even if its fundamentals are improving. The NOPI is an ordinal index, and differences in rankings should be carefully interpreted. A top-ranked market is not necessarily twice as good as the second-ranked market, nor is it 10 times better than the 10th-ranked market. Rank 2015 Rank 14-15 20141 Change San Francisco 1 1 n San Jose 2 2 n Seattle-Tacoma 34 s New York City 4 3 t Orange County 5 8 s Denver 69 s Miami 711 s San Diego 8 7 t Nashville 915 s Portland 106 t Austin 1117 s Boston 1210 t Salt Lake City 13 12 t Los Angeles 14 5 t Houston 15 14 t Minneapolis-St. Paul 16 13 t Oakland 1716 t Charlotte 1818 n Atlanta 1920 s Dallas/Fort Worth 20 25 s Phoenix 2122 s Chicago 2219 t San Antonio 23 21 t Tampa-St. Petersburg 24 30 s Philadelphia 2523 t Washington, D.C. 26 24 t Columbus 2727 n West Palm Beach 28 35 s Kansas City 29 31 s Indianapolis 3032 s Riverside-San Bernardino 31 33 s Louisville 3226 t Pittsburgh 3329 t Orlando 3439 s Fort Lauderdale 35 42 s St. Louis 36 28 t Baltimore 3741 s Jacksonville 3845 s Las Vegas 39 46 s Cleveland 4043 s Northern New Jersey 41 34 t Sacramento 4238 t Cincinnati 4336 t Milwaukee 4444 n New Haven 45 37 t Detroit 4640 t 0 0 1 1 3 3 4 1 6 4 6 2 1 9 1 3 1 0 1 5 1 3 2 6 2 2 0 7 2 2 2 6 4 5 7 8 4 7 7 3 7 4 7 0 8 6 page 5 Specialty Indexes High-Yield Index MSARank Las Vegas 1 High-Yield Markets San Antonio 2 Las Vegas Cleveland3 San Antonio Baltimore4 Cleveland Baltimore Detroit5 Detroit Louisville6 Louisville Orlando7 Orlando Jacksonville Jacksonville8 Riverside-San Bernardino Riverside-San Bernardino 9 Pittsburgh Pittsburgh10 0% 3% 6% 9% 12% Three-Year Average Cap Rate High-Yield Markets Las Vegas Pricing Discount From Peak Price per Square Foot 0% $0 3% Price Decline 80% 60% 40% 6% 20% 9% 0% 12% s Ve cr ga Ri am s ve rs ent o id eS. At B. la Ta n m Ph ta pa o e -S ni t. x Pe te . Ba lt M imo ilw re au k O ee ak la nd le da er Cap Rate Three-Year Average d u La rt o F Pricing Discount From Peak Sa La Decline From Prior Peak San Antonio AverageCleveland Price per Square Foot Baltimore $250 Detroit Louisville $200 Orlando $150 Jacksonville $100 Riverside-San Bernardino Pittsburgh $50 per Square Foot Square Price Feet (thousands) La Fo s r S V Lo t W ac ega r o s R rt am s An ive h e ge rs nt Se le id o at A s e-S tle u . -T sti Atl B. Taac n an t o P Sa Sa mpma ho a n n J a-S en Fr os t. ix an e P et ci e. sc o Ba lti Sa D lt en Mi mo La v lw re ke er au C O kee ity a kl M an ia d m i Yield-seeking investors frequently pursue secondary and tertiary markets. While these smaller metros carry additional risk, their superior returns often warrant buyer attention. As the economy builds momentum, many of these smaller cities can expect performance gains that have yet to be factored into pricing, offering investors unique opportunities. Although the Index highlights markets with average cap rates that exceed other metros, premier submarkets within these cities often carry premium pricing. Limited appreciation potential and reduced liquidity can be a risk factor in high-yield markets, lending greater weight to property operations when considering investment strategies. This year’s Yield Index is led by Las Vegas, where the slow-to-recover housing market has stifled larger improvements in the office market. Local economic gains are drawing companies to the metro and will support increased absorption this year. Still, vacancy rests near the nationwide high, second only to Detroit, which sits in the No. 5 spot in this Index. Detroit’s supply of large floorplates available in suburban office parks is spurring new suppliers to establish offices in the area as the auto industry prospers. San Antonio, the High-Yield Index’s second-place market, has suffered from defense cutbacks in prior years but is benefiting from rising spending in the healthcare and government sectors, prompting local companies to expand payrolls in the quarters ahead. Rising office-using employment in Cleveland and Baltimore, third and fourth positions, respectively, will bolster demand for office space going forward. Tempered Optimism Among Developers Places Downward Pressure on Office Vacancy As the economy builds momentum, development will re-emerge, lifting supply-side risks. Still, several markets remain insulated from overbuilding — at least over the next year. The Supply-Risk Index identifies markets with the lowest anticipated office completions as a percent of total inventory in 2015. The reasons for restraint vary, but the limited deliveries of new properties offer owners and prospective investors the opportunity to build value as tenant demand recovers in these markets. Da lla s/ Change Y-O-Y Prior Peak FromVacancy Decline Supply-Risk Index Price Decline Average Price per Square Foot Developer Confidence Markets MSARank $250 80% Speculative Construction 2015 Decline in Vacancy Oakland1 $200 60% 2,000 1802 St. Louis $150 40% Tampa-St. 1,500 Petersburg 1353 $100 Philadelphia4 20% $50 1,000 90 Kansas City 0% 5 $0 500 45 Cleveland6 le da r Orange 0County 0 7 de o au West Palm Beach 8 eg i tr L D n Detroit9 Fo Sa Orlando10 Yield-Seeking Investors Venture Away From Primary Markets For Greater Returns Developer Confidence Markets Speculative Construction 2015 Decline in Vacancy ak rt St lanLdo W pa . L s A ort -S ou ng h i el Ph t. PSe s e ila eatet A s t.le u d Ka el s ns phi Tac tin as a S om C SCai n an a le ty ve Fr Jos W a la es nd nci e tP sc al o m BeS aca De De hlt La nv k e t O roit e C r rla nd M ity o ia m i Square FeetFeet (millions) Square (thousands) 180 2015 % Change to Inventory 135 0.16% 90 0.12% 45 0.08% 0 o 0.04% g e Di n 0% Sa y t n ou C e g an Ta m O Da lla s/ Fo 0 r O of New Supply Limited Risk quare Feet (millions) 210 0.12% page140 6 0.08% 70 0.04% 0% Inventory Annual Growt Office Inventory 2015 % Change to Inventory Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics 280 0.16% 0 Growth Inventory Change VacancyAnnual Y-O-Y Limited Risk of New Supply 2,000 Office Inventory 1,500 280 1,000 210 500 140 0 70 Oakland tops the year’s Supply-Risk Index for the second year in a row as developers concentrate their efforts in the other Bay Area markets. St. Louis takes the No. 2 spot this year, joined by fellow Missouri metro Kansas City at No. 5. A slow recovery in these markets has limited the need for new space and developers are reluctant to begin new projects without a tenant in place. With office vacancy well below the national average in both markets, an uptick in office-using employment should backfill additional dark space this year, generating future supply constraints. On the East Coast, construction remains low in third-ranked Tampa-St. Petersburg; nonetheless, a recovery of all of the jobs lost during the recession in the primary office-using sectors last year will boost demand for traditional office space. In Philadelphia, a brief pause in construction earned the metro the fourth position in the Index. However, developers will resume construction with two large build-to-suit projects underway that will significantly boost deliveries over the next two years. Specialty Indexes Values Significantly Below Pre-Recession Peak In Many Markets The economic recovery has not favored all markets equally, and advances in property performance have yet to achieve their potential in some metros. The Opportunity Index highlights markets that offer the widest pricing discount from their pre-recession peak but have strong ofice-using employment forecast for 2015. These markets offer the potential for rapid appreciation as significant occupancy gains manifest. Although risks tend to run higher, these metros could offer outsized returns as pricing moves toward pre-recession levels. Opportunity Index High-Yield Markets MSARank Las Vegas Las Vegas 1 San Antonio Sacramento2 Cleveland Riverside-San Baltimore Bernardino 3 Detroit Atlanta4 Louisville Phoenix5 Orlando Tampa-St. Petersburg 6 Jacksonville Riverside-San Bernardino Fort Lauderdale 7 Pittsburgh Baltimore8 0% 3% 6% 9% 12% Milwaukee9 Oakland10 Three-Year Average Cap Rate Price per Square Foot Price Decline 80% $200 60% 40% 20% 0% Sa La s Ve cr ga Ri am s ve rs ent o id eS. At B. la Ta nt P m a pa ho -S eni t. x Pe te . Ba lt M imo ilw re au k O ee ak la nd le a rd e ud a tL r 0% Fo 3% 6% 9% 12% Da Price Square per Square FeetFoot (thousands) l La las/ Fo s Sa Ve r c gL t W Ri ram asos or An th ve rs ent ge id S o le e- ea S t A s At .Bt.le-T ust la a in Ta n m Ph S ta S com pa o a an a -S eni n F J t. x ra os Pe nc e te is . co Ba lt S M imoalt De ilw re L nv ak e au e r k C O ee ity ak M la ia nd m i Three-Year Average CapMarkets Rate Developer Confidence Speculative Construction 2015 Decline Developer Confidence Indexin Vacancy Pricing Discount From Peak 2,000 180 MSARank Average Price per Square Foot Price Decline Dallas/Fort Worth 1,500 1351 Los$250 Angeles 80%2 1,000 90 $200 Austin3 60% 500 45 Seattle-Tacoma4 $150 40% San$100 Jose 0 5 0 20%6 go San Francisco $50 e Di San Diego n 0% 7 $0 Sa e l Denver8 a d er Salt Lake City 9 ud a L Miami10 rt Limited Risk Fo of New Supply 2015 % Change to Inventory Developer Confidence Markets 0.16% 2015 Decline in Vacancy 0.12% 180 0.08% 135 0.04% 90 0% y 45 nt Fo ak r Lo tTW am S lan d t o s An rptah- . Lo ge St uis Se lPe . P at A shila et tle u d e -T sKtia elp . ac nns h o a ia Sa Sa maC s C n n J le ity FrW os ve ane e la nd csti sPc aol m Be Sa D ac lt en La v De h e ke r tr C Orl oit ity an do M ia m i O 0 ge ou C go n ra O n Sa 0 e Di Da lla s/ Square Feet (thousands) Square Feet (millions) Office Inventory 280 Speculative Construction 210 2,000 140 1,500 70 1,000 0 500 Growth Change AnnualVacancy InventoryY-O-Y Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics Limited Risk of New Supply Office Inventory 280 2015 % Change to Inventory Inventory Annua High-tech markets, most notably in Texas and California, will dominate this years’ Developer Confidence Index. Significant speculative construction in Dallas/Fort Worth and Austin positioned these Texas markets in the top 5 of the Index. Sizable employment gains fueled by corporate expansions and relocations in Dallas/Fort Worth and space demand driven by the thriving technology sector in Austin have developers progressing on a number of speculative projects this year, though this space will pose little threat to vacancy. Growth in the technology sector is also encouraging speculative development in San Jose and Seattle-Tacoma. Several speculative projects are currently under construction in both markets, yet vacancy is expected to contract more than 50 basis points in both metros. Developers are more confident in Southern California as well. Builders in Los Angeles will meet an expected rise in space demand with more than 1.5 million square feet of speculative development underway. Still, vacancy during 2015 is expected to tumble in Los Angeles. Other noteworthy markets with a growing technology presence that appear on the Index include San Francisco, Salt Lake City and Denver. High-Yield Markets Las Vegas San Antonio $150 Cleveland Baltimore $100 Detroit $50 Louisville $0 Orlando Jacksonville Riverside-San Bernardino Pittsburgh Feet (millions) As the national economy gains momentum, many companies are expanding headcounts and reevaluating their space requirements, anticipating future growth. Demand is particularly strong for buildings with large blocks of contiguous space and Class A amenities. Capitalizing on elevated space demand, developers are gaining confidence and breaking ground on speculative projects in several markets. The Developer Confidence Index highlights markets with the highest increase in speculative office space as a percentage of overall inventory while projected net absorption is forecast to reduce vacancy this upcoming year. Average Price per Square Foot $250 Change VacancyFrom Y-O-Y Decline Prior Peak Speculative Building Reflects Developer Confidence Pricing Discount From Peak Decline From Prior Peak After recording steep declines during the housing crisis, the top 4 markets in this year’s Opportunity Index are continuing to gain ground, albeit slowly. Soft rent growth since the end of the recession has hindered NOI improvement. Limited construction and rising office-using employment will create additional demand for office space, prompting operators to lift rents for available space in the quarters ahead. Still, the average price per square foot of office properties in the top two markets of this Index is less than half of the pre-recession peak. Las Vegas tops this year’s Opportunity Index, with prices 59 percent below the prior peak, while Sacramento and Riverside-San Bernardino follow at 52 percent and 48 percent, respectively. Atlanta and Phoenix round out the top five. Overall tenant demand in Atlanta will enable operators to increase rents in the near term, directly impacting the financial performance of many office properties. 210 0.16% page 7 0.12% 140 0.08% National Economy Economic Performance Confirms a Self-Sustaining Expansion that Looks to Extend Through 2015 Employment Trends Total Employment Office-Using Employment Y-O-Y Change 6% 3% 0% -3% -6% Annualized Quarterly Change in GDP 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 1415** U.S. GDP 10% 5% 0% -5% -10% 90 95 00 05 10 14* 15** Household Wealth Distribution Value of Assets (trillions) Stocks/Bonds/Mutual Funds Checking/Saving/Money Market Owner Occupied Real Estate 60% 45% 15% 0% 88 90 92 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 Unemployment Rate vs. Treasury 10-Year Treasury Rate 12% 16% 9% 12% 6% 8% 3% 4% 85 90 95 00 05 10 * Estimate** Forecast v Through Third Quarter page 8 14 0% Unemployment Rate 10-Year Treasury Rate Unemployment Rate 80 The sharp decline in oil prices in the second half of last year will boost consumption and lift business performance, but it also creates some new risks. Increased uncertainty and prospects that oil prices could fall too much merge with broader risks such as inflation, weaker global growth, and instability in the Middle East and Ukraine. Some of these appear to be more transitory effects that will be partially offset by stronger domestic economic performance. Nominal retail sales now measure 19 percent higher than the prior peak, or 5.2 percent adjusted for inflation. In addition, corporate profits stand 27 percent above their 2006 peak and 69 percent above the 2009 trough. The Federal Reserve concluded its bond purchase program, but downward pressure on inflation, the longer term impact of depressed oil prices, and signs of slack in the labor market remain concerns. 2015 National Economic Outlook 30% 0% Steady consumption gains, accelerated hiring and rising business investment kept the U.S. economic recovery on point throughout 2014, despite copious headwinds. Third-quarter GDP measured 5.0 percent growth, on the heels of 4.6 percent in the prior quarter, and payrolls continued to build momentum, with 2.95 million jobs added in 2014. Not only has the U.S. more than regained the jobs lost during the recession, but this expansionary cycle now exceeds the 8.2 million jobs added in the first decade of the 2000s. As of year-end 2014, job gains for the last six months have averaged nearly 264,000, and unemployment ticked down 110 basis points from last year to 5.6 percent. Moreover, the increase in the number of hours worked, decrease in the number of workers in part-time jobs for economic reasons, and sharp decline in the unemployment rate for workers with less than a high-school diploma reflect improvement at a deeper structural level. ■■ Consumer Spending, Housing and Manufacturing Will Propel Growth: GDP is forecast for 3.1 percent growth and the U.S. should add an estimated 3.1 million to 3.5 million jobs in 2015. Further declines in oil prices could potentially tamp down near-term investment and hiring in energy-related business until global demand rises to meet ramped up production. The silver lining is that lower gasoline prices will expand capacity for discretionary consumer spending. Efforts to subdue the downtrend in homeownership by reducing the minimum required downpayment could boost single-family housing. Lofty sales of autos and durable goods will expand the manufacturing sector. ■■ Office-Using Job Growth Accelerates Across Most Metros: The primary predictor of office demand, office-using jobs will continue to recover well ahead of total non-farm employment. Hiring by small to midsize businesses, which lagged in the current recovery cycle, has recently accelerated and will ensure greater depth and breadth of office sector recovery in the coming year. ■■ Fed Walks a Tight Rope Flanked by Debt Ceiling and Budget Debates: Long-term inflation remains tethered to the Federal Reserve target, but the liquidity injected into the system creates potential for rapid economic acceleration and inflationary pressures. This may be offset by falling energy costs that could introduce deflationary pressure. Congress passed legislation to fund the government through September 2015, but debt ceiling and other budgetary items remain a wild card for the coming year. National Office Overview Increased demand for concentrated amenities and urban office locations favored Class A buildings, which captured more than 60 percent of absorption last year, creating a pivotal 80-basis point slide in vacancy to 16.4 percent and asking rent growth of 2.9 percent. Class B/C demand, particularly in urban locations, surged 25 percent, resulting in a 60-basis point decline in vacancy to 14.8 percent and asking rent growth of 3.7 percent. The overall national vacancy rate receded 60 basis points to 15.3 percent. New hires and rising rents have catalyzed momentum in office expansions and new leases, as well as significant pre-leasing activity, shifting the dialogue toward an accelerating reduction in space options available to tenants. ■■ Metro Office NOIs Reflect Convergence in Regional Economic Performance: Generally, this is good news. However, the Texas and Colorado markets face higher risks from declining oil prices and the potential contraction in energy-related economic activity, particularly given the significant new office construction underway. Fortunately, many of these metros have diversified well since the 1980s oil bust. Square Feet Completed (millions) 22% 135 18% 90 14% 45 10% 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 1415* 6% 200 Class A Class B/C 100 0 -100 -200 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15* Office Asking Rent Trends Asking Rent per Square Foot $30 $28 $26 $24 $22 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15* Office Vacancy by Class Class A Class B/C 20% Average Vacancy Rate ■■ Financing Options Lift Construction, Rehab and Repositioning Opportunities: Higher rents across most product segments, fully priced CBD space, and the reemergence of more cost-conscious tenants in the Class B/C market will induce repositioning efforts in the CBD. These factors will also spur speculative construction in job-centric, high-amenity suburban locales. Tech, energy and medical industries drive markets with construction pipelines exceeding 1 million square feet, including Houston, Dallas/ Fort Worth, the San Francisco Bay Area, New York City and Boston. Just 15 markets account for 81 percent of forecast supply for 2015 and about 50 percent of forecast demand. Vacancy Rate Net Absorption by Property Class 2015 National Office Market Outlook ■■ Operational Gains Accrue to Broader Swath of Markets: Office operations have lagged the overall recovery in commercial real estate, but vacancies will finally descend below the 15 percent threshold in 2015, lifting rent growth to 4.1 percent. Forecast demand for 104.1 million square feet will outstrip 56 million square feet of new supply slated to deliver this year. Rent growth is forecast across all 46 markets, with only four expecting flat vacancy or a modest increase. Early-recovery markets continue to post healthy rent growth; late-recovery markets reap strong rent and occupancy gains, particularly in Florida. Improved revenue growth is also expected in Riverside-San Bernardino, Atlanta and Phoenix. Completions 180 Vacancy Rate The U.S. economy added 2.95 million jobs in 2014, the strongest growth in 15 years. Office-using business segments have consistently represented more than one-third of job creation, accelerating office demand and eroding much of the space overhang that predated the recovery. Further, the renaissance of demand from small to midsize businesses helped broaden overall demand to less expensive Class B/C office space. Limited supply growth in all but the largest primary metros has contributed to a shift in market dynamics, with late-recovery markets poised for significant operational improvement. A five-year supply deficit has helped stabilize fundamentals despite workspace efficiency and collaborative spaces shaving nearly 30 percent from the footprint of office tenants. Office Construction and Vacancy Square Feet Absorbed (millions) Office Performance Accelerating As Limited Construction Meets Rising Demand 16% 12% 8% 4% 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15* * Forecast Source: CoStar Group, Inc. page 9 Capital Markets Broad Capital Availability and Exceptionally Low Interest Rates Boost Investor Appetite U.S. CMBS Issuance CMBS Issuance (billions) $240 $180 $120 $60 $0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15** Office Mortgage Originations by Lender Percent of Total 100% Private/Other Financial Insurance CMBS Reg'l/Local Bank Int'l Bank Nat'l Bank 75% 50% 25% 0% 10 11 12 13 14* Office Cap Rate Trends Office Cap Rate 10-Year Treasury Rate Average Rate 12% Cap Rate Long-Term Avg. 9% 490 bps 530 bps 500 bps 230 bps 10-Year Treasury 3% Long-Term Avg. 630 bps 94 96 98 00 02 04 06 08 10 12 14 Note: Sales $1M and above 10-Year Treasury Vs. Core Inflation Core Inflation 10-Year Treasury Rate Average Rate 6.0% Avg. 10-Year Treasury 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% Avg. Core Inflation 0% 04 06 Note: Sales $1M and above * Estimate ** Forecast page 10 Office mortgage originations grew 11 percent year over year as of third quarter 2014, measuring 6.0 percent year to date. CMBS conduits stole market share from most other segments, originating nearly one-third of office loans, followed by 28 percent through national and regional banks, and life companies at 13 percent. CMBS loans comprised nearly three-quarters of single-tenant loans in 2014 and, more generally, dominated originations across all market tiers. CMBS issuance continues to climb at a steady pace, advancing to a post-crisis high watermark of $90.4 billion in 2014. 480 bps 6% 0% Sustained economic momentum, robust investor demand and lender optimism have created a healthy and diverse marketplace for U.S. commercial real estate investment as a compelling alternative asset in a low-yield global environment. Low interest rates remain a key driver of the abundant capital in the market and equity spreads over mortgage and Treasury rates are still wide from an historical perspective. This will cushion investments from an eventual rise in interest rates. As the liquidity impact of Fed intervention begins to fade, other forces that influence the trajectory of interest rates will take on renewed importance, including the timing and magnitude of rate changes, investor sentiment, income growth, inflation and global capital flows. Heated competition among lenders has resulted in a modest easing in underwriting standards, although no evidence has yet emerged to signal undue risk-taking. Loan-to-value measures remain below peak levels and have changed little over the past year. Similarly, investors’ confidence and appetite for risk have increased, and they are assuming more leasing and development risk and expanding into a greater number of secondary markets despite ongoing cap rate compression. 08 10 12 14 2015 Capital Markets Outlook ■■ Debt and Equity Markets Remain Healthy; Interest Rate Risk Likely Nominal: Favorable macroeconomic conditions will emerge, with lower energy costs and an accommodative Fed to mitigate possible upticks in interest rates. Debt terms should stay favorable, supporting liquidity and reducing risk of an abrupt change in cap rates. Another round of debt ceiling discussions could pose risks to the pace of economic growth early in 2015. ■■ The Office Cap Rate Spread Over 10-Year Treasuries Remains Higher than Long-Term Average: The 500-basis point spread is little changed from one year ago but 100 basis points tighter than 2012. The premium paid for a CBD location narrows the spread to 340 basis points, compared with a suburban asset at 460 basis points. Higher financing costs for riskier investments could erode some of the cap rate arbitrage of assets in suburban, secondary/tertiary markets, and value-add assets, but lender competition will help contain financing costs and the pace of occupancy and rent growth in these segments is forecast to accelerate over the next few years as many Class A properties in core markets are fully priced and leased. ■■ Capital Flows to Broader Market Segments: Institutional and foreign capital will maintain steady demand for core assets in primary markets. Robust investor demand will compress going-in yields for assets in secondary and tertiary markets, but increased lending activity by national banks and CMBS conduits supports property values. Office Investment Outlook Performance Gains and Ready Access to Capital Support Accelerating Investor Activity ■■ Improved Operations and Increased Acquisitions Push Values: Total sales activity could potentially set a new high tidemark in 2015, then remain robust for several years. The decline in commercial lending rates has lifted both the current debt and equity spreads to 210 basis points. Investments today remain better positioned to absorb moderately higher rates compared with the 2007 peak when spreads narrowed to 60-80 basis points. Low yields and scarcity of product on the market will shift greater demand to secondary and tertiary markets. ■■ Development and Renovation Offer Heightened Risk-Adjusted Returns in Supply Constrained Markets: Existing Class A assets may be priced at a premium to replacement cost. Late-recovery markets may offer superior leasing momentum and competitive operational metrics that support higher yield potential. ■■ Minimal Construction and Accelerating Demand Lead to Improved NOI Growth: The lag in office NOI growth in this recovery cycle resulted from leases set at the bottom of the recession. As these leases expire and space overhangs burn off, rent growth will accelerate, particularly in popular urban centers. Average Price per Sq. Ft. 10% $200 9% $150 8% $100 7% $50 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 6% Primary Secondary Tertiary Average Cap Rate 10% 9% 8% 7% 6% 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Office Transactions by Price Category $1M-$10M Total Transactions 2015 Investment Outlook Cap Rate Office Cap Trends by Market Type $11M-$20M $21M+ 2,400 1,800 1,200 600 0 00 01 02 03 04 05 06 07 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 Office Buyer Composition 100% Percent of Total Office sales volume year to date through November 2014 measured $101.3 billion, nearly 15 percent higher than the previous year, with CBD sales surging 19 percent and suburban properties lifting 10.3 percent. December closure of pending transactions would represent an 18 percent increase in annualized sales volume to $126 billion, marking a seven-year high. Cap rates compressed across all market tiers, with the sharpest contraction in CBDs and secondary markets. Although CBD pricing remains relatively flat at $359 per square foot over the past year, cap rates contracted another 50 basis points to 5.7 percent. Cap rates paid for suburban assets also declined 50 basis points to 6.9 percent, although the price per square foot declined 7.3 percent to $166 per square foot. Overall office values remain 19 percent below the 2007 peak of $295 per square foot, and cap rates measure 6.6 percent. Price per Sq. Ft. $250 Average Cap Rate Although office valuations have accelerated ahead of NOI growth, investors are increasingly focused on opportunities in the sector as improved fundamentals across a broader and deeper swath of asset tiers and markets portend sustainable momentum. International investors still favor the safety and liquidity of CBD assets, particularly in high-profile gateway markets; moreover, U.S. office space remains competitively priced relative to other countries. Increasingly, improvements in suburban space fundamentals, particularly in amenity-laden urban-style hubs, and the significant arbitrage in prices and cap rates have many investors seeking assets outside the CBD. Measured on a per square foot basis, prices for CBD assets are more than double that of suburban office assets, and cap rates are 120 basis points lower. Preferred metros, including New York City, Chicago, San Francisco and Washington, D.C., still account for the lion’s share of sales, but select secondary markets, particularly those with major employment hubs in addition to the city center such as Atlanta, Houston and Dallas/Fort Worth, have generated significant upticks in velocity. Office Property Price Trends 75% User/Other Private Public/REITs Inst'l/Eq. Fund Foreign 50% 25% 0% 10 11 12 13 14* * Estimate v Through Third Quarter Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics page 11 Insured Non-Elderly Pop. (millions) Medical Office Outlook Healthcare Consolidation Bifurcating Medical Office Market Effects of Affordable Care Act (ACA) on Health Insurance Coverage* With ACA Without ACA 260 245 230 215 200 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 Annual Physician Office & Hospital Outpatient Visits Hospital Outpatient Physician Office Visits per Capita 8 6 4 2 0 Under 18 Years 18-44 Years 45-64 Years 65+ Years Expanded insurance coverage and the aging of the U.S. population support a bright outlook for the medical office sector. Over the next 10 years, the 65plus age cohort, who average 2.5 times the number of physician-office visits than the rest of the population, will grow by 17 million people. During the same period, greater utilization of the insurance exchanges and Medicaid expansion will help provide coverage to an additional 27 million non-elderly individuals. These trends will undoubtedly boost healthcare needs in years to come, but their impact on space demand has become difficult to quantify due to a growing physician shortage, proliferation of in-store clinics, telemedicine, evolution of the care delivery model, and healthcare industry consolidation. Already, the shift toward a more consumer-centric delivery model is encouraging hospitals and health systems to expand outpatient services. Major providers, which, due to consolidation, account for a growing share of all leasing decisions, tend to favor modern medical office properties. As a result, the lion’s share of new space demand is being funneled into late-vintage buildings. While many earlier-vintage buildings will continue to fare well, outdated multi-tenant assets leased to small independent practices are likely to bear the brunt of tenant attrition due to accelerating physician retirements and hospital acquisitions of private practices. Major Providers Drive Medical Office Development U.S. MOB Supply and Demand Trends Vacancy Rate Completions 12% 28 11% 21 10% 14 9% 7 8% 08 09 10 11 12 13 14 15* 0 2014 MOB Completions by U.S. Region W.S. Cntrl Square Feet Completed (millions) Vacancy Rate An estimated 8.8 million square feet of medical office space is currently targeted for delivery in 2015. Last year, 7.1 million square feet was completed. Hospitals and health systems remain the driving force behind new construction — both on and off hospital campuses. Nationally, off-campus buildings account for a growing share of development activity, but multiple large on-campus projects have recently come online or will be delivered this year. Aside from the form and function of medical office space, healthcare providers increasingly rely on real estate to enhance their visibility within communities and create recognizable brands. From a marketing perspective, healthcare tenants are favoring properties that improve the patient experience, be it through aesthetics, convenient parking or on-site diagnostic services. Catering to consumer preferences will only become more critical in years to come as providers compete for a share of the newly insured population. Tenant Demand Focused on Late-Vintage Assets SE CA Cntrl Plains Pac NW MW NE Mtn U.S. medical office vacancy dipped modestly in 2014, ending the year at 9.7 percent. The tightest conditions can be found in the Pacific Northwest, where vacancy hovers around 6.6 percent, followed by the Central Plains, Southeast and California regions, which post vacancy rates in the mid- to high-8 percent range. Mountain states report the softest conditions, with vacancy in the region averaging approximately 13.7 percent. Regional shares based on preliminary U.S. total of 7.1 million square feet * Forecast Sources: Congressional Budget Office, CDC/NCHS, CoStar Group, Inc. page 12 At the national level, newer medical office buildings continue to capture the vast majority of new tenant demand, with expanding hospitals and health systems leading the charge. Net absorption among properties built since Medical Office Outlook Medical Office Vacancy Rates 4Q13 16% 10% Cap rate compression in recent quarters can be attributed in part to the favorable lending climate and more crowded buyer pool, but also reflects healthcare industry consolidation. Hospital and health system mergers and acquisitions, and overall expansion, have effectively raised the credit characteristics of the U.S. medical office sector, drawing more REIT and institutional capital into the space. Based on preliminary estimates, REITs accounted for 30 percent of total dollar volume, more than twice their share in 2013. tn W .S .C M nt rl W E M N C C $20 $15 C Pa c N W A C E N S U tn rl M nt SE W .S .C W rl Pl M ai ns $10 nt Average Asking Rent per Sq. Ft. $25 100% 75% Institutional Cross-Border Public REITs Private User/Other 50% 25% 0% 12 13 14* Based on trans. of $2.5M+ (excludes entity-level and partial-interest sales) Medical Office Sales Trends Price per Sq. Ft. Cap Rate $200 10% $185 9% $170 8% $155 7% $140 08 09 10 11 12 13 14* Average Cap Rate In 2014, cap rates edged down to an estimated 7.6 percent, which is within 20 basis points of the pre-recession average. On-campus properties with credit tenants traded in the mid-6 to mid-7 percent range, while similar-credit off-campus assets changed hands roughly 30 to 40 basis points higher. Cap rates for buildings lacking credit tenants, on the other hand, were concentrated between 7.0 and 8.5 percent. $30 MOB Buyer Composition Percent of Total Dollar Volume The favorable outlook for the medical office sector will continue to attract more investors to the marketplace, supporting another uptick in transaction velocity. Last year, sales accelerated roughly 15 percent, while the average price advanced 5 percent to $193 percent square foot, which closely aligns to the 2007 level. Prices varied dramatically by asset quality, location and tenants’ credit. Properties with credit tenants, for example, traded at a nearly 40 percent premium to the overall market. 2014 Medical Office Asking Rents Average Price per Sq. Ft. Investment Trends SE Looking forward, the growing involvement of hospitals and health systems in lease negotiations likely will inhibit rent growth, as major providers have both scale and credit working in their favor. From an owner’s perspective, leasing a sizable share of a building to a single high-credit tenant versus multiple small providers not only lowers management costs but may also elevate the value of a property itself. During 2014, asking rents remained fairly stable at approximately $22.29 per square foot. By region, rents spanned a broad spectrum, starting at less than $18.00 per square foot in the Central Plains and approaching $29.00 per square foot in the Pacific Northwest. N W nt rl Pl ai ns 4% A 7% Modern Buildings Commanding Premium Rents While the age of a building, in and of itself, may not be central to tenants’ leasing decisions, it has become a relatively reliable indicator of an asset’s desirability. Newer medical buildings, for example, tend to offer features most coveted by today’s healthcare providers, such as flexible floorplans, energy-saving designs and systems, and the digital infrastructure necessary to fully integrate technology into their operations. Not surprisingly, late-vintage assets often command notable premiums. On average, asking rents for properties constructed within the past five years currently run 35 percent higher than rents for 1970s-vintage buildings. 4Q14 13% Pa c Vacancy Rate 2009 reached 6.6 million square feet during the most recent 12-month period, which equates to 96 percent of the marketwide total. Nonetheless, there is still plenty of room in the market for earlier-vintage buildings, particularly those that are well managed and maintained. In fact, the tightest conditions, by vintage, can be found among 1990s buildings, which collectively report vacancy of 8.7 percent. That said, properties built in earlier decades generally post higher vacancy rates and are more likely to soften in years to come. 6% * Estimate Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics page 13 Atlanta National Office Property Index Up 1 Place Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 24% 3 21% 2 18% 1 15% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 4% $20 2% $18 0% $16 -2% $14 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 20 Positive trends — strong employment growth, technology and healthcare driven leasing activity, and subdued new development — will lower vacancy and raise rents in the Atlanta office market this year. Job creation will accelerate as nearly every sector adds to payrolls. Lured by the talented workforce and large corporate presence, companies will continue to announce expansions, boosting demand for office space across the metro. In Buckhead, Salesforce plans to double its footprint to 50,000 square feet and healthcare information provider Sharecare will lease 30,000 square feet, as both companies add room for new employees. Strong space demand in Buckhead motivated developers to break ground on a 500,000-square foot speculative office tower, which is scheduled for completion in 2016. Nearby in North Fulton, a growing technology corridor, General Motors is searching for a larger floor print as the company reached capacity at its Roswell Innovation Center and anticipates to add up to 400 IT jobs. Furthermore, the new Gwinnett Technical College in North Fulton, which will be completed next year, will attract additional technology companies to the area. A growing pool of buyers will compete for a limited and diverse number of office assets in the Atlanta metro, supporting sales activity this year. Optimism in the local economy and consistently improving property performance are attracting out-of-state capital. These investors are often willing to pay premiums for office assets, which is boosting competition and driving property values. This will excite more owners who were considering divesting over the next few years. Properties in the Central Perimeter, Buckhead and along Georgia State Route 400 will capture strong interest from REITs and institutional buyers. Cap rates for best-in-class assets will remain in the low6 percent range. Buyers searching for higher yields will target properties in west Midtown and in the Cumberland Galleria area. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 19, Up 1 Place. Atlanta inched up 1 spot in the Index, supported by a strong vacancy improvement forecast. ■■ Employment Forecast: Metro employers will generate 68,000 jobs this year, expanding payrolls 2.7 percent. Office-using positions will account for 25,000 new hires. Sales Trends $130 ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will finish 626,000 square feet in 2015, down from the 1.4 million square feet completed last year. $120 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will reduce 120 basis points to 16.4 percent by year end. Last year, vacancy fell 110 basis points. $110 $100 $90 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 19 Speculative Office Project Reflects Confidence in Atlanta; Health and Tech Sectors Fuel Space Demand Employment Trends Nonfarm | ■■ Rent Forecast: Average asking rents will reach $20.12 per square foot this year, a 1.9 percent increase. In 2014, rents advanced 3.3 percent. 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: A shallow pool of quality inventory will cause some investors to stretch their preferences to include Class B assets with lengthy leases in place. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 14 Employment: 2.7% s Construction: 277K t Vacancy: 120 bps t Asking Rents: 1.9% s Austin Up 6 Places | 2015 Rank: 11 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 17 Austin’s Thriving Tech Sector Driving Job Creation, Elevating Demand for High-Quality Office Space ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 11, Up 6 Places. The nation’s highest office-using employment growth forecast propelled Austin’s six-position rise in the NOPI. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 Completions ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will advance 4.8 percent in 2015 to $29.43 per square foot. Last year, rents increased 4.3 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Efforts to create a life sciences hub around the new Dell Medical School could yield some strong value-add plays in north Austin. Just recently, Allergan committed to 90,000 square feet in an existing vacant building in the submarket. 14* Absorption 15** Vacancy Square Feet (millions) 18% 3 16% 2 14% 1 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 10% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $32 8% $29 6% $26 4% $23 2% $20 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Austin’s vacancy rate will decline 20 basis points this year to 12.0 percent. In 2014, vacancy ticked up 20 basis points. 13 4 ■■ Employment Forecast: Employment growth will accelerate to 4 percent in 2015 with the addition of 36,500 jobs. Office-using sectors will record a 5.7 percent gain, accounting for 12,800 of the metro’s new positions. ■■ Construction Forecast: Approximately 2.9 million square feet of office space will come online in 2015, up from 1.1 million square feet last year. 12 Office Supply and Demand Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change After holding steady last year, sales velocity should accelerate in 2015 as listing activity rises. A growing share of Class B asset owners who purchased at the previous cyclical peak will find themselves positioned to sell at healthy profits. High Class A rents have already started to push tenant demand across the quality chain, particularly in the CBD, which has prompted private investors to target small to midsize Class B/C assets for repositioning. Overall, though, institutional investors and REITs will remain the dominant players in Austin’s office market; last year, the former accounted for more than 60 percent of overall dollar volume. On average, cap rates in Austin dipped 30 basis points in 2014 to 7 percent but started in the low-6 percent range for well-located Class A deals and net-leased, credit-tenant medical office buildings. Nonfarm 8% Vacancy Rate Austin’s office market remains poised for improvement in 2015 as the metro leads the nation in job growth. A well-educated workforce and relatively affordable living and moderate business costs continue to lure high-tech firms to the market. The elevating demand for Class A office space is supporting significant rent growth this year. While strong leasing activity has renewed speculative development, most projects are pre-leasing prior to delivery. The 374,000-square foot Colorado Tower and 195,000-square foot IBC Bank Plaza in the CBD, for example, broke ground with minimal pre-leasing but were recently delivered with commitments for more than 90 percent of the space. To the north, a speculative building underway at The Domain recently landed Amazon as a primary tenant. In other parts of the metro, including the north/northwest suburbs, the introduction of speculative buildings may cause notable upticks in vacancy this year, but tenant demand should catch up quickly as the delivery of thousands of housing units elevated the need for services in the area. Employment Trends $220 $190 $160 $130 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 4.0% s Construction: 1.8M s Vacancy: 20 bps t Asking Rents: 4.8% s Market Forecast page 15 Baltimore National Office Property Index Up 4 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 16% 2 14% 1 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 8% $21 4% $20 0% $19 -4% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -8% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 41 The Baltimore metro office market will make headway this year as biomedical and technology companies expand payrolls and their office footprints. Cisco Systems Inc. signed a 10-year lease on 100,000 square feet of Class A space in Maple Lawn to consolidate five buildings and expand operations. The company expects to add 200 staff to its current 350 employees over the next few years in Howard County. To the east, the nonprofit East Baltimore Development Inc. is initiating an 88-acre mixed-use project that will include residential and retail, along with lab and office space for companies affiliated with Johns Hopkins University. To the South of Baltimore, office construction projects are multiplying, including the 133,000-square foot Annapolis Corporate Park in Annapolis and 120,000-square foot Corporate Park Arundel Preserve in Hanover. Traffic flow to office complexes from the northeast of the metro will improve with two new ramps on the White Marsh Boulevard and the JFK Memorial Highway interchange, which took seven years to complete. Overall transaction velocity will remain stable in 2015, as deal volume expands slightly. While the number of trades remains relatively steady, the price per square foot will continue to rise as investor interest in this market exceeds available supply. Properties in Columbia, Annapolis, Baltimore and along Highway 83 will stay in high demand, creating bidding competition. Local investors and high-net-worth individuals from out of state will seek out assets in the 50,000-square foot range, near amenities attractive to employees. The minimal yet steady decline in cap rates over the past three years will endure, allowing new buyers to find leased-up properties with sustained yield-growth potential. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 37, Up 4 Places. Mild rent growth limited Baltimore’s four-place rise in the ranking. ■■ Employment Forecast: In 2015, employers will add 22,000 positions, representing a 1.6 percent rise. This includes 12,000 office jobs, a boost of 3.7 percent, after fostering a 2.9 percent climb last year. ■■ Construction Forecast: Completions will total 805,000 square feet this year, moderating slightly from last year’s deliveries of nearly 1 million square feet. $140 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: As space needs decline per worker and signed leases are geared toward newly built spaces, the vacancy rate will ease 20 points to 14.5 percent. This comes after a 60-basis point jump up a year ago. $130 $120 $110 $100 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 37 Bioresearch and Technology Companies Hiring, Boosting Office Absorption Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will increase 0.9 percent to $21.28 per square foot, aligning with a modest ebb in the vacancy rate. This comes after a 0.1 percent lift in the 2014 average rent. ■■ Investment Forecast: The metro will continue to appeal to individual buyers seeking higher yields and smaller properties compared with other cities in the Eastern U.S. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 16 Employment: 1.6% s Construction: 57K t Vacancy: 20 bps t Asking Rents: 0.9% s Boston Down 2 Places | 2015 Rank: 12 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 10 Biopharmaceutical and Corporate Expansion — The Right Medicine For Boston Office Vacancy ■■ Employment Forecast: Metro employment will rise 1.7 percent this year with the addition of 43,000 jobs. In the traditional-office using sector, 16,200 workers will be hired. ■■ Construction Forecast: After completing 2.3 million square feet of office space last year, developers will deliver 2.2 million square feet in 2015. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: In 2015, vacancy will retreat 60 basis points on net absorption of 3.8 million square feet to 13.5 percent. Vacancy fell 50 basis points last year. ■■ Rent Forecast: Tightening conditions will enable operators to lift asking rents. Average rents will reach $31.84 per square foot, a 4.8 percent gain, slightly down from the 5.1 percent jump in the previous year. ■■ Investment Forecast: The thriving healthcare sector will fuel additional demand for a limited number of medical-office properties, pushing up property values and motivating owners to test the market. Year-over-Year Change 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 6.0 16% 4.5 15% 3.0 14% 1.5 13% 0.0 11 12 13 14 15** 12% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 12, Down 2 Places. Three other markets outpaced Boston’s forecasts in the NOPI, pulling the metro out of the top 10. 4% Y-O-Y Rent Change $32 12% $30 8% $28 4% $26 0% $24 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Boston’s strong demand drivers and consistent performance gains will sustain heightened investor interest this year. More foreign capital will enter the Boston market, particularly from Canada and Europe, widening the pool of motivated buyers. Institutional investors will continue to search for best-inclass properties in established employment hubs, though the limited number of listings is bolstering competition and driving up property values. Office values in the metro will closely align with peak levels, and some buyers may move their search to other markets. Opportunistic buyers will strongly target properties with re-tenanting and upside potential within dense urban areas on either side of Interstate 93. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate Boston office demand will be fueled by biomedical, finance and tech company expansions and relocations. Though several biopharmaceutical companies may scale back global operations, several plan to expand their footprints in the Boston metro, lured by a growing number of startups and the proximity to teaching hospitals and research institutions. One of these companies is Novartis, which will add 550,000 square feet of lab and office space to its Cambridge campus, the largest project due for completion this year. Another major development to be delivered this year is the 450,000-square foot Boston headquarters for PricewaterhouseCoopers in the vibrant Seaport District, which will house an additional 500 employees. Companies are locating outside the core as well. GE Healthcare will move its U.S. headquarters from New Jersey to a 160,000-square foot renovated building in Marlborough. Overall, developers will remain focused on build-to-suits, though a few speculative projects are expected to come online in the second half of the year. Nevertheless, elevated demand will surpass deliveries in 2015, slicing vacancy and contributing to another year of respectable rent growth. Employment Trends $240 $220 $200 $180 $160 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 1.7% s Construction: 100K t Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 4.8% s Market Forecast page 17 Charlotte National Office Property Index No Change Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 16% 2 14% 1 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 4% $21 2% $20 0% $19 -2% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 18 | 2014 Rank: 18 Rising Income Trends Stir Investor Demand; Waning Construction Lifts Occupancy Employment Trends Nonfarm | Strong job gains will help generate demand for office space as a broad selection of companies expand in the market. Gains in the financial activities and the professional and business services sectors in particular will push office-using employment up 11 percent above the prior peak this year. Space demand is rising as vendors catering to the banking industry and technology companies expand. For instance, AvidXchange will create 600 jobs by 2018 and build an 115,000-square foot headquarters at the N.C. Music Factory in Uptown. Meanwhile, Cognizant Technology Solutions and RingCentral Inc. plan to hire 150 and 100 workers, respectively. Developers are responding to improving occupancy by breaking ground on speculative office projects this year. The largest building is the first phase of Capitol Towers in SouthPark. The 10-story, 240,000-square foot speculative development is scheduled for completion in the second half of the year. Overall, construction deliveries will slow in 2015, enabling vacancy to slip below 13 percent for the first time since mid-2008. Tightening vacancy will enable operators to increase rents for the fourth consecutive year. Rising net operating incomes, a growing economy and high returns for stable assets will attract the attention of a wide array of investors this year. Institutional buyers will remain dominant in Uptown Charlotte, searching for Class A properties. In this submarket, initial yields for upper-tier properties can dip into the low-6 percent range. Investors looking for additional yield in stable assets will target both the Midtown and South Park areas, where cap rates can average 50 to 100 basis points higher. Sales in the $1 million to $5 million range will increase as loosening financing restrictions on office assets provide more private buyers with access to capital. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 18, No Change. Charlotte maintained a stable ranking due to employment and rent outlooks in line with the national average. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers are on track to boost hiring 2.4 percent this year with the creation of 22,000 positions, 10,000 of which will be in primary office-using sectors. ■■ Construction Forecast: Office deliveries will slow slightly this year as 500,000 square feet is placed into service. Two large office buildings are due in Uptown in 2016 and 2017. Last year, developers brought online 525,000 square feet. $200 $175 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Strong leasing activity, especially in Uptown and South Park, will move vacancy down 80 basis points to 12.9 percent this year. In 2014 vacancy recorded a 90-basis point decline. $150 $125 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Average asking rents will rise 2.5 percent this year to $21.45 per square foot, building off a 1.8 percent jump last year to reach a new high. ■■ Investment Forecast: Demand for medical office assets will outpace the supply of listings at cap rates in the 7 percent range. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 18 Employment: 2.4% s Construction: 25K t Vacancy: 80 bps t Asking Rents: 2.5% s Chicago Down 3 Places | 2015 Rank: 22 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 19 Cranes Returning to Downtown Skyline As Tech Hiring Bolsters Chicago Office Market ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will boost payrolls by 1.3 percent in 2015 with the creation of 60,000 jobs. Office-using employment will expand 3.0 percent, generating office demand. ■■ Construction Forecast: Of the more than 4.6 million square feet of office space under construction, developers will complete 1 million square feet this year. This is up significantly from the 570,000 square feet that came online in 2014. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Rising tenant demand for office space in 2015 will lower vacancy 90 basis points to 17.0 percent. Vacancy fell 50 basis points last year. ■■ Rent Forecast: Tightening conditions and the leasing of new space will move up asking rents 1.8 percent this year to $22.90 per square foot. In 2014, rents dipped 1.1 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: In the Central and East Loop submarkets, investors are targeting older and/or obsolete office buildings for apartment and hotel conversions. Year-over-Year Change 1% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 6.0 20% 4.5 19% 3.0 18% 1.5 17% 0 11 12 13 14 16% 15** Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rentper Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 22, Down 3 Places. Chicago lost ground in the Index due to anticipated soft employment and rent growth. 2% Y-O-Y Rent Change $24 2% $23 1% $22 0% $21 -1% $20 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using 3% 0% -2% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot The strengthening economy is attracting investors to Chicago. Private buyers are moving off the sidelines, favoring stabilized assets. Listings for these properties remain limited as owners who have refinanced are reluctant to forgo cash flows to sell at current valuations, creating a competitive bidding environment. At the other end of the spectrum, a large number of opportunistic investors are seeking value-add assets. Highly vacant properties near transit stations or employment hubs are especially targeted, as are older office buildings that can be repurposed. This leaves many assets, especially suburban buildings with vacancies between 20 to 40 percent, trading slowly in the middle. Nonfarm 4% Vacancy Rate Construction is ramping up in Chicago as developers have approximately 4.6 million square feet of office space underway, nearly a quarter of which will come online this year. The West Loop and River West submarkets, which are heavily favored by tech firms, will receive the bulk of the new space. Vacancy in these areas is tight and rising rents have many firms searching in nearby submarkets for bigger space. Buildings that can offer large floorplates and amenities to attract tech companies will benefit. In the suburbs, vacancy is still high in most submarkets, restricting construction to mainly build-to-suit projects. In Schaumburg, Zurich North America has broken ground on a 735,000-square foot headquarters, and in Arlington Heights, vacant buildings on the former Nokia Siemens campus have been demolished to make way for a major site redesign to attract new tenants. Despite rising construction, improving tenant demand marketwide during 2015 will allow office operators to implement the largest rent growth in six years. Employment Trends $160 $140 $120 $100 $80 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 1.3% s Construction: 430K s Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 1.8% s Market Forecast page 19 Cincinnati National Office Property Index Down 7 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 20% 1 18% 0 16% -1 14% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $16 4% $15 2% $14 0% $13 -2% $12 -4% 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 36 Office demand will strengthen in the Cincinnati metro as office-using tech and medical employers announce elevated hiring for 2015. Cincinnati Bell will fill 180 positions this year, and Time Warner Cable plans to expand after merging with Comcast. Amazon is expected to hire 400 workers at its Hebron fulfillment center. Additionally, if federal aviation rules are adjusted to allow it, the Cincinnati metro will be an early adopter of Amazon’s drone-based Prime Air delivery service, driving office demand for engineers and pilots. In the health services sector, Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center is hiring for its Liberty Township opening and is expected to generate 300 full-time positions. To meet these growing space demands, developers are boosting construction. Deliveries will eclipse last year’s, as the 300,000-square foot Dunnhumby Centre and the 260,000-square foot second phase of the Kenwood Collection come online with a number of pre-lease commitments. These two projects alone will account for more than half of the new construction this year. Older office buildings in downtown are also being renovated as mixed use with office components to meet the rising employer demand in the area. The drop in the market’s vacancy rate is luring investor’s from outside of the metro who are seeking higher yields with stable operations. The market competition for office assets is heating up as prominent out-ofstate buyers demonstrate a willingness to pay a premium for office properties. These investors bid higher because their first-year yield hurdles tend to be lower than they are for local high-net-worth individuals. Yet, these returns are still above what can be found in most primary markets. Investors are also attracted to this market for stable medical office buildings both within the urban and suburban submarkets. A major proportion of deals will be made in the Blue Ash and Northern Kentucky suburbs where a number of available listings of Class A and B office buildings are available. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 43, Down 7 Places. Rent growth will fall short of inflation this year, pulling Cincinnati seven places lower in the NOPI. ■■ Employment Forecast: Payrolls will rise 1.5 percent with the addition of 16,000 positions, including 7,200 office-using jobs. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: Completions will amount to 830,000 square feet this year, increasing supply by 1.0 percent and exceeding last year’s deliveries of 278,000 square feet. $140 $120 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: In 2015, the vacancy rate will trim 30 basis points to 16.8 percent, after dropping 250 points over the previous four years. $100 ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will rise 0.7 percent to $15.48 per square foot in 2015, following a 0.8 percent increase in 2014. $80 $60 2015 Rank: 43 Cincinnati Office Operations Move Forward; Investors Target Blue Ash and Northern Kentucky Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Investors will look to the Cincinnati metro for stronger yields and will find more suburban office properties listed, as institutions sell to place capital in coastal markets. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 20 Employment: 1.5% s Construction: 552K s Vacancy: 30 bps t Asking Rents: 0.7% s Cleveland Up 3 Places | 2015 Rank: 40 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 43 Limited Office Construction Aids In Market Recovery; Downtown Activity Draws National Interest ■■ Employment Forecast: Office users will expand headcounts 2.0 percent this year, or by 4,500 jobs. Total employment will rise 1.6 percent as employers hire 16,500 workers. ■■ Construction Forecast: New development will be limited to 71,000 square feet in 2015, down from the 292,000 square feet completed last year. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Restrained construction and rising office demand will pull vacancy down 40 basis points this year to 16.3 percent. In 2014, vacancy ticked up 20 basis points. ■■ Rent Forecast: In 2015, average rents will advance 0.8 percent to $17.18 per square foot, building on the 0.2 percent growth recorded last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Increased CMBS and life company lending activity in secondary markets will drive additional demand for local office assets. Year-over-Year Change 2% 1% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 2.0 18% 1.5 17% 1.0 16% 0.5 15% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 14% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 40, Up 3 Places. Only modest improvements in the local office market kept Cleveland near the bottom of the ranking. 3% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 4% $17 2% $16 0% $15 -2% $14 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Lured by comparatively higher yields than available in coastal markets, investors with long-term hold strategies will search for office properties in the Cleveland market. Average cap rates vary widely, ranging from the high-8 to 10 percent area. Despite yield-driven buyer demand, sales velocity has been limited to a narrow supply of quality inventory over the past few years as owners held their assets awaiting further economic gains. As fundamentals and access to acquisition financing improve, more owners who were reluctant to list will consider testing the market this year. Stabilized properties in the CBD and established employment hubs will garner the strongest interest. Local buyers will continue to scour downtown and suburban office parks for value-add deals, though the number of these properties has diminished. Nonfarm 4% Vacancy Rate Developers will hold back on new office construction during 2015, while professional and business services and healthcare companies boost hiring, leasing new space and tightening operations. This year’s completions are substantially pre-leased and minimal, positioning the volume of new deliveries well below the five-year annual average. In addition to the slowdown in the development cycle, more conversion projects of functionally obsolete office buildings to apartment complexes are planned downtown, relieving competition among existing office space. The revival of the downtown area and the selection of Cleveland to host the 2016 National Republican Convention have brought positive national attention to the region. This upswing of good news has motivated executives to continue relocating or expanding their companies in the metro. As newly hired workers backfill space and businesses move into larger facilities anticipating future growth, metrowide vacancy will lower. The modest reduction in vacancy this year will be enough to bring the market’s office operations back to its pre-recession level. As a result of tightening conditions, owners will have sufficient leverage to lift rents for a fourth year. Employment Trends $100 $80 $60 $40 $20 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.0% s Construction: 221K t Vacancy: 40 bps t Asking Rents: 1.4% s Market Forecast page 21 Columbus National Office Property Index No Change Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6% 4% 2% 0% -2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 1.00 14% 0.75 13% 0.50 12% 0.25 11% 0 10% 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 4% $17 2% $16 0% $15 -2% $14 -4% 11 12 13 14 15** Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 27 Hiring will accelerate during 2015 as logistics, energy and healthcare companies expand in the metro, boosting demand for office space. Rising demand and limited new supply will contribute to a drop in vacancy this year, though companies moving out of large blocks of space will curb more significant improvement in Columbus. Tenants anticipating future growth and those who have already outgrown their facilities are developing new buildings as large office complexes offering Class A amenities are challenging to find. Over the next several years, Columbia Gas and Nationwide Insurance will vacate approximately 1 million square feet in the suburbs. Last year, Columbia Gas moved employees to its new facility in the Arena District. Another large move will unfold over a four-year period starting next spring, allowing ample time for the space to re-lease. Nationwide will relocate 3,400 workers from Dublin and Westerville to the Nationwide Realty Grandview Yard project and to its existing downtown headquarters. The space left behind by these companies will moderately boost vacancy in the suburbs over the near term. Nevertheless, tenants will fill available space as developers hold back on speculative projects and hiring accelerates, putting downward pressure on vacancy. Improved access to acquisition financing and a brighter economic outlook will support transaction velocity in the Columbus market. Out-of-state investors will continue searching for Class A office assets above $5 million. Properties near the airport or established employment hubs in Dublin and Westerville with quality tenants, particularly in the healthcare or medical sector, will garner the strongest interest. Investor demand will be focused almost entirely on less management-intensive properties to achieve returns, leaving lower-quality assets on the market. Owners of stabilized properties with long lease commitments may increasingly consider exit strategies amid strong buyer demand. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 27, No Change. Columbus is Ohio’s highest-ranked market again this year due to relatively tight vacancy. ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, metro employers will create 19,000 jobs, a 1.9 percent rise. Office-using employment will increase 2.5 percent with the addition of 6,300 positions. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: The pace of construction will slow this year. In 2015, 138,000 square feet will be completed, expanding inventory 0.2 percent. Last year, 473,000 square feet was delivered. $120 $110 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Restrained construction will support a 60-basis point drop in vacancy this year to 11.5 percent. Vacancy fell 50 basis points one year earlier. $100 $90 $80 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 27 Tenants Relocate to Newer Offices In Columbus; Vacancy Edges Lower Amid Restrained Development Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: In 2015, average rents will rise 2.0 percent to $16.30 per square foot, building on the 1.1 percent gain last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: The well-performing healthcare sector will fuel investor demand for single-tenant medical office properties. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 22 Employment: 1.9% s Construction: 572K t Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 2.0% s Dallas/Fort Worth Up 5 Places | 2015 Rank: 20 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 25 Corporate Campuses Set to Headline Metroplex Office Deliveries in 2015 ■■ Employment Forecast: Slumping oil prices will ease employment momentum, but the diversified economy will nonetheless generate 113,900 new positions, a gain of 3.5 percent. The forecast includes 40,000 office jobs. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will deliver 6 million square feet of office space this year, up from 3.7 million square feet in 2014. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: In 2015, Metroplex office vacancy will decline 40 basis points to 18.9 percent. Last year, vacancy ticked up 30 basis points. ■■ Rent Forecast: Rents will continue rising at healthy pace through 2015. On average, asking rates will advance 4.5 percent to $22.50 per square foot. ■■ Investment Forecast: The high-vacancy Stemmons Freeway submarket appears positioned for an uptick in tenant and investor demand in coming years. Restrictions limiting nonstop flights out of Love Field to destinations in Texas or nearby states were recently lifted, which will support significant airport expansion and increased economic activity in the broader area. Year-over-Year Change 4% 2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 8 22% 6 20% 4 18% 2 16% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 14% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 20, Up 5 Places. Strong payroll gains fueled the Metroplex’s seven-position jump in the NOPI. 6% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $24 6% $22 4% $20 2% $18 0% $16 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Sales velocity slowed modestly last year in Dallas but ticked up in Fort Worth, where small deals accounted for an outsized share of activity. Throughout the Metroplex, cap rates compressed roughly 20 basis points to 7.6 percent. The average, however, was weighed down by sales of Class A properties in core submarkets and single-tenant medical offices, which can start in the low-6 percent range. Class B cap rates, on other hand, have been concentrated between 8.5 and 9.5 percent, though assets in prime locations, such as Preston Center or Turtle Creek, often trade at significant premiums. Nonfarm 8% Vacancy Rate Corporate expansion abounds in the Metroplex, driving well-above-average job creation and a sizable increase in office development. Collectively, State Farm and Raytheon’s campuses in Richardson, coupled with FedEx’s Plano headquarters and the FAA’s Fort Worth facility, will account for half of 2015’s new supply. Other build-to-suits slated for delivery include the Monitronics building in Farmers Branch and The Richards Group’s headquarters at CityPlace in Uptown. While these projects are entirely spoken for, their delivery will spark some sizable moveouts, causing fluctuations in vacancy. State Farm, for example, will vacate 1 million square feet of temporary office space in Richardson, while FedEx will leave behind 200,000 square feet in the East LBJ Freeway submarket. In recent years, the latter area recorded notable softening due to reconstruction of the LBJ Freeway, but with the project now in its home stretch, office leasing has started to pick up. Moving north along the North Dallas Tollway into West Plano and Frisco, office development has spiked. In the Far North, build-to-suits for Toyota, FedEx and the Dallas Cowboys are underway, and developers are progressing on several speculative buildings. Although many of these projects report significant availability, tenant demand in the fast-growing submarket is likely not far behind. Employment Trends $160 $145 $130 $115 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.5% s Construction: 230K s Vacancy: 40 bps t Asking Rents: 4.5% s Market Forecast page 23 Denver National Office Property Index Up 3 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 17% 2 16% 1 15% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 14% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $26 6.0% $24 4.5% $22 3.0% $20 1.5% $18 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 0% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 9 Rapid economic growth, rising tenant demand and falling vacancy are amplifying developer confidence in the Denver metro, prompting speculative development. Expanding companies will generate additional office demand in the market, particularly in the technology and energy sectors, as will new employers relocating to Denver this year. Developers are responding optimistically to the elevated demand and adding speculative projects. The largest speculative project currently underway is the 300,000-square foot 1601 Wewatta building in Lodo. In the second quarter of 2015, a 640,000-square foot speculative building, 1144 Fifteenth, will break ground. This development will enhance the downtown skyline, as it will be the largest office tower built in nearly three decades. High office tenant demand will limit any negative impact construction has on vacancy, enabling the rate to dip below 15 percent for the first time since mid-2007. As tenants compete for available space, average asking rents will post gains above 4 percent for the third year in a row. The strong economy and improving operations will draw a wide array of buyers to the Denver metro. Institutional investors and high-net-worth individuals will continue to target office properties in downtown Denver; however, buyers seeking additional yield will largely be drawn to listings in the Denver Technology Center. These areas will also attract significant attention from out-of-state buyers, primarily those from the West Coast. Class B office assets downtown begin in the low- to mid-6 percent cap rate range while those in the Denver Technology Center can average 25 to 50 basis points higher. Local buyers will search for properties in the suburbs, many exchanging from assets in the core office submarkets. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 6, Up 3 Places. Denver solidified its position within the top 10 behind one of the country’s healthiest employment markets and elevated rent increases. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will expand headcounts 3.2 percent during 2015 with the addition of 43,000 workers. Office-using payrolls will increase by 14,000 jobs, or 3.6 percent. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will bring online 2.2 million square feet of office space this year. Construction will be heavily concentrated downtown and near the Denver Technology Center. Last year, 1.3 million square feet was placed into service. $160 $145 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will fall 70 basis points this year to 14.6 percent, after declining 160 basis points in 2014. $130 $115 $100 2015 Rank: 6 Speculative Office Towers Rise Amid Mile-High Builder and Investor Confidence Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Average asking rents will increase 5.0 percent in 2015 to $24.38 per square foot, following a 5.4 percent gain last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Demand for medical office properties in the Denver metro will remain high. However, listings will be limited, creating an intense bidding environment for properly priced assets. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 24 Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 975K t Vacancy: 70 bps t Asking Rents: 5.0% s Detroit Down 6 Places | 2015 Rank: 46 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 40 A Brighter Economic Outlook Will Rev Up Detroit Office Market This Year ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 46, Down 6 Places. A combination of elevated vacancies and modest rent gains placed Detroit at the bottom of the ranking. ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, 15,000 workers will be added to payrolls, a 0.8 percent increase. Office-using employment will account for 8,000 of these positions, expanding 1.6 percent. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 Square Feet (millions) Completions ■■ Investment Forecast: In downtown, assets with convenient access to parking will be highly sought after. 14* 15** Absorption Vacancy 4 26% 3 24% 2 22% 1 20% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 18% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 4% $19 2% $18 0% $17 -2% $16 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Rent Forecast: As vacancy contracts, owners will raise asking rents 1.8 percent to $18.33 per square foot in 2015. Rents remain 9 percent below the pre-recession level. 13 Office Supply and Demand ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will finalize 200,000 square feet of office space this year, following the completion of 90,000 square feet in 2014. The majority of new space is in suburban submarkets. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Restrained construction output coupled with increased tenant demand will cut vacancy 80 basis points to 20.0 percent this year, the lowest annual rate since 2008. In 2014, vacancy slipped 50 basis points. 12 Year-over-Year Change 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using 8% Vacancy Rate Detroit’s redevelopment efforts and emergence from bankruptcy are attracting worldwide attention from investors. Although vacancy throughout the metro has improved significantly in the past five years, rent growth has lagged, keeping many investors saddled with large debt loads and making it difficult to refinance. As a large portion of conduit debt matures over the next several years, some of these assets are likely to be offered for sale, increasing listings. In the suburbs, businesses are taking advantage of the delay in rent growth and the availability of large blocks of space to move into better-quality space. This will benefit Class A operators, especially in properties with updated amenities near transit. Throughout the metro, higher initial yields than are available in many other markets will draw more investor attention to stabilized properties in high-demand areas such as downtown, Birmingham and Bloomfield this year. Nonfarm Asking Rent per Square Foot The metro’s highly skilled labor force along with incentives available through the Michigan Strategic Fund are attracting office-using businesses to the metro. In downtown Detroit, long-vacant office buildings are being renovated while others are repurposed into apartments and hotels. These efforts are transforming the area into a vibrant community and luring companies and young professionals who desire an urban lifestyle. The underway light rail and new hockey arena developments will further enhance the vitality of the area. In the suburbs, the availability of large floorplates, attractive rents and a sizable labor pool are drawing new businesses. Restrained construction and a higher rate of office absorption will contribute to diminished vacancy in most submarkets this year, allowing operators to increase rents and improve NOI. Employment Trends $120 $100 $80 $60 $40 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 0.8% s Construction: 110K s Vacancy: 80 bps t Asking Rents: 1.8% s Market Forecast page 25 Fort Lauderdale National Office Property Index Up 7 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6.0% 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 20% 1 18% 0 16% -1 14% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $26 6% $24 4% $22 2% $20 0% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 42 Illustrating the overall upswing in office property operations throughout South Florida, the Broward County market enters 2015 riding bright prospects for an additional decline in vacancy and hike in rents. The strength of the market through last year is properties built since 2000. In this segment, physical vacancy is roughly half the level posted immediately following the recession and much less than the average countywide rate. Strong demand for newer space is most pronounced in Downtown Fort Lauderdale, where large property owners continue to employ the power of deep balance sheets to lure tenants from other submarkets. Space demand for assets built prior to 2000, though, is gaining traction, and further rises in occupancy will ensue this year and beyond as tenants continue to grow and add staff. Office-using sectors are expanding steadily, with professional and business services, and education and health services headcounts eclipsing pre-downturn levels. Restrained construction is enabling property owners to boost occupancies and firm rents, in turn raising NOIs and making more assets presentable for sale. Transactions are occurring at a sustainable pace in the private buyer pool, which represents the largest active contingent of investors in the county. Cap rates in Broward sit in the high-6 to low-7 percent range, reflecting sales involving stabilized Class A assets that are highly sought after. Higher yields are attainable in Class B assets with secure long-term mixes of credit tenants; cap rates in this segment can approach 8.5 percent. Regardless of asset class, the number of investors in the market exceeds the amount of properties listed for sale, thereby raising the likelihood that property owners can execute a transaction that meets price objectives. In addition to Downtown Fort Lauderdale, key submarkets to follow in 2015 include eastern Broward communities Hollywood and Pompano Beach, where constraints on adding new supply exist. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 35, Up 7 Places. One of the highest employment forecasts in the nation boosted Fort Lauderdale seven spots in the NOPI. ■■ Employment Forecast: Gains in professional and business services will fuel a 3.2 percent increase in payrolls this year, an addition of 25,000 jobs. During 2014, 20,500 new hires were made. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: Only 120,000 square feet of space will come online this year, following completions of 405,000 square feet in 2014. $180 $160 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Tenants will occupy an additional 1 million square feet of space this year to slice vacancy 110 basis points to 15.4 percent. $140 ■■ Rent Forecast: The average rent in Broward County will advance 3.2 percent during 2015 to $24.74 per square foot, marking a moderation from the robust 5.3 percent increase posted last year. $120 $100 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 35 Development Subdued in Broward County, Shifting Space Demand to Existing Properties Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Well-located older assets in sound physical condition are seeing an upswing in tenant interest and will offer investors potential upsides through re-tenanting and raising rents. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 26 Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 285K t Vacancy: 110 bps t Asking Rents: 3.2% s Houston Down 1 Place | 2015 Rank: 15 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 14 Houston’s Growth Outlook Tempered By Oil Price Slide ■■ Employment Forecast: Payrolls are expected to rise 2 percent in 2015, or by 60,000 jobs. The forecast, though, remains subject to revisions this year, due to uncertainty regarding the depth and duration of the oil price slump. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will deliver 11.5 million square feet of office space this year, up from 8.1 million square feet in 2014. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Houston’s vacancy rate will tick up 50 basis points this year to 16.1 percent, as several speculative buildings enter lease-up. ■■ Rent Forecast: In 2015, asking rents will rise 4.6 percent to $28.74 per square foot. Last year, asking rents increased 6.0 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Healthcare-sector expansion has driven medical office vacancy below 10.5 percent, elevating competition for available deals. This year, medical office deliveries will total an estimated 500,000 square feet, which should yield more investment opportunities in coming quarters. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 12 18% 9 17% 6 16% 3 15% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 14% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 15, Down 1 Place. Potential risks to the metro’s economy associated with lower oil prices and a tick up in vacancy dropped Houston one spot in the NOPI. 8% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $32 8% $29 6% $26 4% $23 2% $20 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Sales velocity remained fairly steady in 2014 and will continue apace in 2015. Investors will be cautious as they await the impact of the slide in oil prices. Yet, Houston’s ability to attract major corporate office tenants, diversifying the market, will keep buyers scouring the market for office assets. Recent cap rate trends reflect investors’ optimism, with the average in 2014 edging down 30 basis points to 6.8 percent, the lowest on record since at least 2000. Cap rates in Houston, however, vary dramatically. Class B cap rates, for example, start around 8 percent but can push north of 10 percent in non-core areas. Multi-tenant Class A assets, on the other hand, often trade at notably lower cap rates, particularly those with a credit-tenant presence and a location in one of the metro’s more desirable submarkets, such as the Energy Corridor, Medical Center or Westchase. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate This year, office completions will rise to levels last seen in the mid-1980s, but the impact on vacancy should be moderate as build-to-suits and pre-leased towers account for a sizable share of deliveries. The largest project slated to come online is in the relatively tight Spring/The Woodlands submarket. Exxon Mobil’s 3 million-square foot campus in the area is nearing completion, and the company also has pre-leased nearly 500,000 square feet at the nearby Hughes Landing development. The greatest concentration of new offices this year, though, will be delivered to the also-tight Katy Freeway submarket, home to Shell’s expanding Woodcreek campus and new headquarters for Academy Sports and Air Liquide. While low oil prices, if sustained, would slow Houston’s economy, they are unlikely to derail it. Over the past few decades, expansion of downstream energy operations has reduced the metro’s dependence on oil exploration and extraction. Further, when oil prices plunged more severely in the late 1990s, Houston still posted above-average job growth and vacancy held near historical lows. Employment Trends $200 $175 $150 $125 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics Employment: 2.0% s Construction: 3.4M s Vacancy: 50 bps s Asking Rents: 4.6% s * Estimate ** Forecast Market Forecast page 27 Indianapolis National Office Property Index Up 2 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 18% 1 16% 0 14% -1 12% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 4% $17 2% $16 0% $15 -2% $14 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent -4% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 32 During the last five years, the Indianapolis metro has added more than 100,000 jobs, including nearly 40,000 in office-using sectors. Solid employment growth has backfilled office space, resulting in many companies expanding their footprints and instigating construction. Interactive Intelligence, Meyer Najem and Lids are among the companies with new facilities underway. Also, Cummins will break ground this spring on a $30 million global distribution headquarters that will house up to 400 employees. The building, which is due for completion in 2016, is part of the Market East District redevelopment in downtown Indianapolis. Although little speculative office space has broken ground, vacancy improvements will be hindered by these companies moving out of leased space through 2016. This year, vacancy will fall 70 basis points, allowing operators to continue to post annual rent gains for the third consecutive year. Investors have been lured by the relative stability of the Indianapolis office market. Out-of-state buyers are largely targeting stabilized properties that typically trade at cap rates beginning in the 8 percent range. Although single-tenant medical assets are also highly attractive to many of these investors, a lack of available properties and compressing cap rates have many buyers moving toward traditional office assets for higher yields. Properties in Carmel as well as downtown, northeast and northwest Indianapolis are heavily sought after. As competition intensifies in these areas, buyers will expand their criteria to include a broader array of well-performing assets in good locations. The completion of the Highway 31 upgrade through Hamilton County this year will improve access to Westfield, a location primed for future growth, and should attract investors to properties along the route. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 30, Up 2 Places. Tight vacancies offset weak rent growth forecasts to boost Indianapolis two places in the Index. ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, employers will create 23,000 jobs, a 2.4 percent increase. Office-using sectors will expand at a pace of 3.9 percent with the addition of 9,000 positions. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will complete 150,000 square feet of office space in 2015, from 133,000 square feet last year. A 112,500-square foot building for Interactive Intelligence is the largest project slated for delivery this year. $120 $105 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Rising demand for office space and a restrained construction pipeline will move vacancy down 70 basis points to 12.3 percent this year. Vacancy has fallen 270 basis points in the past five years. $90 $75 $60 2015 Rank: 30 Build-to-Suit Projects Keep Developers Active in Indianapolis Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Less available office space is allowing operators to boost rents. Asking rents will rise 2.4 percent to $17.66 per square foot in 2015, following a 2.1 percent gain last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Private investors seeking garden-style office assets for less than $10 million will find properties available throughout the metro. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 28 Employment: 2.4% s Construction: 17K s Vacancy: 70 bps t Asking Rents: 2.4% s Jacksonville Up 7 Places | 2015 Rank: 38 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 45 Jacksonville Market Gaining Momentum; Investors Set to Step Up the Pace ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 38, Up 7 Places. Office vacancy will fall at one of the fastest rates in the nation, pulling the market up seven spots in the NOPI. Year-over-Year Change 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 ■■ Rent Forecast: Improving space demand will support a 3.1 percent gain in the average rent this year to $18.59 per square foot. Last year, a 2.9 percent rise was recorded. ■■ Investment Forecast: The completion of the University of Florida Health North heralds a new era for the Northside, where access to healthcare has been lacking. New space demand and additional medical office development will ensue. 14* 15** Square Feet (millions) Absorption Vacancy 2 20% 1 18% 0 16% -1 14% -2 11 12 13 14 15** 12% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 4% $18 2% $16 0% $14 -2% $12 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: The vacancy rate will slip 170 basis points to 14.3 percent following a drop of 100 basis points in 2014. 13 Office Supply and Demand ■■ Employment Forecast: Jacksonville employers will add 20,100 workers to payrolls this year, including 6,000 employees in office-using posts. Staffing expanded 3.1 percent, or by 19,000 jobs, during 2014. ■■ Construction Forecast: Office inventory increased nominally in 2014, and developers will bring online a mere 250,000 square feet this year. 12 Completions Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Additional improvement in property operations will enable more owners to test the transaction market in the year ahead. Thus far in the office sector recovery, transaction velocity has been light, partly reflecting a lack of quality inventory for sale. Cap rates in the limited number of recent deals vary from the low-8 to mid-9 percent range. Institutions have shed assets in the Jacksonville metro over the past three years to free capital for purchases in larger markets, while sales in the private-investor dominated $1 million to $10 million range are only beginning to gain traction. A deep and diverse inventory, and attractive tenant mixes will fix the attention of these buyers on the Southside this year. Buildings in Ponte Vedra will also garner consideration. Wealth management firms and medical practices provide stable, long-term tenancies in properties here. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate The First Coast office sector is receiving a lift from positive economic trends, and momentum will accelerate in 2015 as space demand grows and restrained construction persists. Speculative supply pressure will not appear this year, leaving substantially pre-leased buildings as the only projects capable of progressing through the development pipeline. The primary project slated for delivery this year, the fully pre-leased medical office component of the University of Florida Health North, exemplifies the limitations on speculative construction. Demand trends, meanwhile, continue to adapt, with the growing Southside population drawing office employers closer to neighborhoods. As a result, office vacancy has sharply declined on the Southside over the past four years and demand is growing. However, a combination of corporate consolidations and lease expirations left downtown with a drop in occupied space over the same stretch. Large Class A properties, including EverBank Tower and the SunTrust Tower, are weighed down with high vacancy in early 2015. Employment Trends $160 $140 $120 $100 $80 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 237K s Vacancy: 170 bps t Asking Rents: 3.1% s Market Forecast page 29 Kansas City National Office Property Index Up 2 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 16% 2 14% 1 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 4% $17 2% $16 0% $15 -2% $14 -4% 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 31 Robust job creation by office-using employers over the past few years is supporting the office market in Kansas City, encouraging construction and bolstering operations. Developer confidence is evident in the new Class A speculative office complex, Pinnacle V, coming to Leewood. This will be the final building in the Pinnacle Corporate Center and is slated to open in the fall of 2015 as a part of the financial center of Johnson County. Pre-leases penned include accounting firms, legal practices and additional professional service businesses. In a neighboring southern office complex, the engineering firm Burns & McDonnell is currently expanding its headquarters and will add 470,000 square feet of office space in two phases. The company expects to generate 2,100 positions for its 17.5-acre campus over the next decade. Another south Kansas City project is by Cerner, one of the larger employers in the area, which has been expanding its footprint over the past few years. Last November, the company broke ground on the Trails Campus Project, a 237-acre campus at the former Bannister Mall site, announcing the creation of 16,000 jobs in the coming years. The Kansas City office market offers a bifurcated approach as the interest of investors from primary markets strengthens. Submarkets in south Kansas City, particularly those with new construction, are drawing institutional interest, while many high-net-worth individuals target outlying suburbs. In highly sought-out locations of southern Johnson County such as Overland Park, properties trade with cap rates in the mid-7 to mid-8 percent range. Buyers seeking assets in the $1 million to $10 million range with higher yields are scouring suburban settings in eastern Jackson County, near Blue Springs and Lee’s Summit. In these submarkets owners are able to push up rents faster than the overall metro pace. Class B/C properties in these areas trade hands with cap rates in the 9 percent range. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 29, Up 2 Places. Low vacancy and strong payroll gains supported a two-spot rise in the ranking for Kansas City. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employment will tick up 0.9 percent, or 8,000 positions, of which 6,000 will be in office complexes. This will accelerate office job growth by 2.2 percent, after the 2.1 percent increase in 2014. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: Nearly 175,000 square feet will be completed this year, allowing time for the 446,200 square feet from last year to be leased. $140 $125 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will drop another 70 basis points to 12.5 percent, after falling 90 basis points in the previous year to 13.2 percent. $110 ■■ Rent Forecast: The average asking rent will improve 2.6 percent to $17.64 a square foot after increasing 1.8 percent in 2014, as users vie for well-located Class A and B office space. $95 $80 2015 Rank: 29 Kansas City Employers Fill Offices, Drive Vacancies Lower Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Investors will look to this centrally located U.S. metro for higher yields as startups and technology-focused companies expand throughout the city. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 30 Employment: 0.9% s Construction: 271K t Vacancy: 70 bps t Asking Rents: 2.6%s Las Vegas Up 7 Places | 2015 Rank: 39 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 46 Improving Office Absorption Welcomes Investors to Las Vegas ■■ Employment Forecast: Local employers will add 28,000 jobs this year, up 3.2 percent. Office-using employment will grow 4.3 percent as 7,500 positions are generated. ■■ Construction Forecast: Office completions totaling 530,000 square feet are slated for 2015, including portions of the Centennial Hills Center, which will comprise 290,000 square feet of retail and office space. Last year 201,000 square feet was delivered. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: An uptick in deliveries will be moderated by rising office-using employment, as the vacancy rate will fall another 90 basis points to 19.9 percent after a 90-basis point tumble last year. ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rent growth in the metro will lift a modest 1.2 percent to $20.16 per square foot on average, an acceleration from 1.4 percent one year prior. ■■ Investment Forecast: Coastal investors will take advantage of relatively low prices and high yields while interest rates are still low early in the year. Year-over-Year Change 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 2.0 24% 1.5 22% 1.0 20% 0.5 18% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 16% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 36, Up 7 Places. Vacancy will dip below the 20 percent threshold, supporting a seven-spot rise in this year’s ranking. 6.0% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 2% $21 0% $20 -2% $19 -4% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -6% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Investors will find nominally decreasing cap rates in the market as the local economy grows. Slow yet consistent annual increases in rental rates and price per square foot for office space also bode well for this product type as the marketplace corrects. Individual buyers will seek the stability of smaller properties near amenities, while institutions will target assets near redevelopment downtown, along the 215 Beltway and Class A buildings in Summerlin. Owner-users will pay a premium for smaller assets with favorable SBA financing. California investors will continue to be prominent in the metro, seeking exchanges into higher-yield assets with improving absorption. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate Local economic development plans and corporate expansions will support job growth in the Las Vegas metro this year. While the area is known for hospitality, gaming and retail, conferences are also a big draw to the area. To facilitate more business activity, the city has a 1 million-square foot expansion and renovation on the books for the Las Vegas Convention Center just south of downtown. There is also talk of plans for a new office park, allowing businesses to permanently locate near the conference center. Another growth initiative, the Downtown Project, will continue to create new jobs as businesses open offices downtown, redeveloping the center of the city. To date 300 businesses have been opened in the CBD. Traveling west of the Las Vegas core, 200,000 square feet of Class A offices in One Summerlin will come online this year. This space is just a small portion of the 2.1 million square feet planned for offices in the 22,000-acre mixed-use Downtown Summerlin community. South of the city in Henderson, Barclaycard is hiring up to 1,000 positions in its new 91,000-square foot customer contact center in the Green Valley Corporate Center. Employment Trends $140 $130 $120 $110 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 330K t Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 1.2% s Market Forecast page 31 2015 National Office Report Statistical Summary MSA Name Office Employment Growth1 Atlanta Austin Baltimore Boston Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dallas/Fort Worth Denver Detroit Fort Lauderdale Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Louisville Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis-St. Paul Nashville New Haven New York City Northern New Jersey Oakland Orange County Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Riverside-San Bernardino Sacramento Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Seattle-Tacoma St. Louis Tampa-St. Petersburg Washington, D.C. West Palm Beach U.S. Metro Total 3.4% 6.5% 3.4% 1.7% 1.4% 3.5% 2.4% 1.5% 4.9% 3.7% 4.2% 4.5% 3.4% 5.6% 2.6% 2.2% 3.2% 4.3% 4.7% 4.0% 5.6% 2.1% 0.7% 5.7% 0.9% 2.7% 1.2% 5.6% 6.0% 2.9% 1.9% 4.5% 2.3% 3.2% 1.1% 4.8% 5.6% 5.3% 4.2% 6.6% 8.1% 3.4% 1.1% 3.6% 1.3% 3.5% 2.3% 12 * Estimate page 32 ** Forecast 1 13 3.0% 6.3% 2.8% 2.2% 3.8% 2.0% 1.6% 0.9% 0.4% 2.2% 2.8% 2.0% 0.4% 1.8% 3.9% 4.2% 1.4% 4.4% 1.7% 3.6% 3.4% 0.3% 0.6% 5.3% 1.7% 1.6% 1.0% 0.4% 0.6% 3.6% 0.4% 4.3% 0.8% 2.7% 6.2% 2.4% 3.0% 1.7% 0.5% 4.6% 4.7% 2.9% 3.1% 3.4% -0.7% 6.0% 2.6% 14* 15** 3.3% 5.6% 2.9% 2.0% 2.8% 2.0% 1.6% 1.3% -0.4% 4.9% 2.9% 1.6% 4.9% 3.9% 3.6% 5.8% 2.1% 3.6% 4.4% 0.7% 3.6% 2.7% 2.0% 5.5% 1.0% 1.6% 1.1% 2.5% 2.0% 2.6% 1.5% 2.5% 1.5% 3.0% 4.2% 2.5% 3.5% 4.0% 4.4% 4.2% 4.5% 3.2% 2.8% 3.0% 0.6% 0.7% 2.8% 3.5% 5.7% 3.7% 2.3% 4.0% 3.0% 2.9% 2.0% 2.5% 4.6% 3.6% 1.6% 4.2% 2.4% 3.9% 3.4% 2.2% 4.3% 3.9% 2.5% 4.1% 3.7% 2.2% 5.0% 1.7% 1.7% 1.2% 4.2% 3.4% 2.9% 1.7% 3.7% 2.0% 3.4% 4.5% 4.3% 3.9% 2.2% 4.4% 4.5% 5.0% 4.0% 3.7% 3.3% 1.5% 3.7% 3.7% See Statistical Summary Note on page 64. Completions (000s of Sq. Ft.)1 12 13 14 15** 1,040 640 900 630 350 240 1,070 2,900 1,050 1,070 860 805 960 3,240 2,330 2,200 1,320 270 520 500 850 1,010 570 1,000 210 190 230 830 920 880 290 70 560 220 470 140 1,590 2,310 3,660 6,000 970 930 1,130 2,200 470 60 90 200 0 30 410 120 2,100 4,010 8,070 11,500 310 510 130 150 930 50 10 250 610 1,110 450 180 550 282 200 530 1,170 1,260 770 2,400 230 250 470 80 290 170 120 400 280 200 140 300 570 340 1,540 1,800 520 30 800 210 400 40 10 580 690 5,590 3,870 2,800 460 1,260 660 950 320 130 0 10 210 350 1,350 160 140 350 400 190 1,020 860 690 360 1,350 270 1,080 2,500 310 750 1,080 1,400 520 30 80 400 190 110 340 370 320 250 90 180 1,170 890 1,220 530 1,160 600 720 650 740 810 870 910 650 370 950 3,500 940 2,300 1,610 5,000 1,000 1,230 560 3,800 420 230 420 100 360 670 110 90 3,120 2,970 4,090 1,600 80 40 210 50 37,840 40,500 48,350 54,000 Net Absorption (000s of Sq. Ft.)1 12 2,810 2,370 1,990 1,730 2,270 230 1,370 1,140 990 4,860 1,730 2,740 -390 5,210 1,180 1,150 1,470 1,260 1,950 -100 610 320 -430 930 140 3,370 -940 1,310 350 800 490 3,850 -130 1,080 870 1,310 1,220 520 1,410 2,520 1,660 630 -230 100 -2,740 -150 57,890 13 14 15** 3,460 3,490 3,620 1,400 750 2,710 1,330 20 930 3,860 5,060 3,820 880 1,490 1,160 2,570 2,480 4,680 1,460 -80 940 680 100 460 550 820 640 3,900 2,080 6,090 920 3,210 2,920 940 910 1,490 20 1,370 750 480 8,410 8,280 1,100 -90 710 650 140 1,050 1,990 1,690 970 490 610 870 2,250 1,350 5,160 480 420 460 900 1,730 1,770 510 240 500 190 2,540 2,580 -290 1,750 790 80 -780 910 7,260 10,430 6,300 -880 1,640 1,490 -1,090 2,660 1,360 2,890 2,660 1,950 580 930 1,080 2,060 220 1,880 2,120 1,040 1,850 810 710 1,100 770 990 1,030 1,120 630 530 1,010 1,080 940 1,560 2,330 1,320 1,230 1,160 750 580 2,750 2,000 1,930 4,090 5,460 3,290 2,690 5,590 3,110 2,890 4,360 1,580 1,020 320 1,680 1,680 2,050 -1,640 -1,890 380 1,160 1,020 810 64,070 83,530 104,640 2015 National Office Report Statistical Summary Vacancy per Sq. Foot1 12 19.7% 13.5% 14.5% 14.8% 15.7% 18.8% 18.2% 16.5% 13.1% 19.7% 16.9% 22.1% 18.3% 15.0% 13.6% 17.5% 15.3% 22.3% 15.6% 12.1% 17.1% 16.8% 14.6% 11.1% 18.6% 11.4% 19.2% 15.7% 18.0% 17.8% 16.7% 22.3% 14.0% 12.4% 18.4% 18.8% 14.0% 15.4% 16.2% 12.9% 13.3% 14.5% 15.6% 18.1% 17.8% 21.6% 16.3% 13 18.5% 12.0% 14.1% 14.6% 14.7% 18.4% 16.6% 16.6% 12.7% 19.0% 16.8% 21.6% 18.3% 16.1% 12.8% 16.2% 14.3% 21.8% 15.3% 11.6% 16.2% 16.2% 14.6% 11.6% 18.6% 10.9% 20.0% 16.9% 16.2% 17.3% 16.3% 20.7% 13.8% 11.5% 16.6% 17.9% 12.8% 14.4% 16.3% 12.0% 12.0% 13.2% 14.5% 17.0% 18.7% 19.2% 15.9% 14 17.6% 12.2% 14.7% 13.8% 13.7% 17.9% 17.1% 16.7% 12.1% 19.3% 15.3% 20.8% 16.5% 15.6% 13.0% 16.0% 13.2% 20.8% 15.1% 11.5% 14.7% 15.6% 13.8% 9.9% 19.4% 9.8% 19.7% 14.1% 15.1% 16.5% 16.1% 20.6% 14.0% 10.5% 15.9% 16.7% 11.3% 13.6% 14.2% 10.0% 10.6% 11.8% 13.8% 15.4% 19.7% 18.5% 15.3% Asking Rent (Year End)1 Average Price per Sq. Foot1 15** 12 13 14 15** 11 12 13 14* 16.4% 12.0% 14.5% 13.2% 12.9% 17.0% 16.8% 16.3% 11.5% 18.9% 14.6% 20.0% 15.4% 16.1% 12.3% 14.3% 12.5% 19.9% 14.2% 10.6% 13.1% 15.2% 13.2% 9.0% 18.9% 9.2% 19.3% 12.7% 13.8% 15.2% 15.5% 20.7% 14.1% 9.7% 15.5% 15.8% 10.2% 13.3% 13.0% 8.6% 9.5% 11.2% 13.6% 13.5% 19.9% 16.9% 14.5% $18.95 $25.05 $21.16 $26.55 $19.89 $22.66 $15.27 $17.03 $15.68 $19.78 $20.88 $17.84 $22.90 $24.78 $16.81 $17.19 $16.66 $19.71 $28.68 $15.19 $28.04 $16.29 $16.69 $19.27 $28.50 $50.44 $24.99 $23.51 $22.50 $18.60 $22.32 $19.83 $18.78 $19.92 $18.33 $20.72 $17.52 $18.82 $25.45 $39.62 $31.27 $26.93 $17.47 $18.71 $35.29 $25.57 $25.31 $19.14 $27.02 $21.06 $28.92 $20.62 $22.76 $15.26 $17.03 $15.76 $20.59 $21.73 $17.63 $22.76 $25.89 $16.93 $17.46 $16.89 $19.66 $29.67 $15.76 $28.61 $16.06 $17.34 $20.19 $29.19 $52.18 $24.66 $24.13 $23.40 $18.81 $22.57 $20.77 $19.65 $20.24 $18.88 $20.69 $17.75 $18.87 $26.05 $43.70 $33.11 $28.15 $17.58 $19.24 $35.31 $25.62 $26.03 $19.74 $28.08 $21.09 $29.42 $20.92 $22.49 $15.37 $17.05 $15.98 $21.61 $23.21 $18.01 $23.97 $27.48 $17.24 $18.03 $17.19 $19.93 $31.33 $15.56 $28.90 $15.99 $18.00 $20.95 $28.50 $55.75 $25.28 $25.42 $24.73 $19.07 $22.87 $21.24 $19.87 $21.14 $19.10 $20.73 $17.53 $19.17 $27.39 $48.28 $36.31 $29.12 $17.84 $19.72 $35.98 $26.30 $27.06 $20.12 $29.43 $21.28 $30.83 $21.45 $22.90 $15.48 $17.18 $16.30 $22.58 $24.38 $18.33 $24.74 $28.74 $17.66 $18.59 $17.64 $20.16 $32.77 $15.87 $30.03 $16.07 $18.70 $21.81 $28.65 $59.65 $24.21 $27.10 $26.04 $19.64 $23.21 $21.64 $20.07 $22.09 $19.50 $20.94 $17.61 $19.38 $28.65 $52.38 $39.11 $30.40 $18.05 $20.31 $36.02 $27.22 $28.17 $95 $155 $125 $201 $163 $119 $99 $81 $104 $136 $122 $62 $138 $147 $99 $104 $115 $114 $259 $90 $211 $74 $98 $135 $151 $486 $178 $182 $216 $155 $134 $107 $101 $135 $128 $130 $80 $150 $232 $299 $264 $241 $92 $142 $302 $189 $179 $97 $173 $119 $211 $169 $126 $114 $88 $106 $143 $126 $81 $138 $155 $110 $137 $119 $106 $260 $95 $197 $108 $110 $145 $160 $583 $195 $177 $205 $126 $150 $128 $114 $151 $122 $114 $88 $157 $241 $331 $272 $250 $94 $135 $316 $190 $188 $114 $198 $128 $227 $176 $136 $117 $86 $113 $153 $137 $95 $152 $165 $114 $144 $122 $112 $283 $105 $226 $112 $117 $154 $178 $657 $199 $193 $226 $116 $164 $138 $118 $174 $130 $116 $110 $165 $262 $362 $316 $277 $102 $151 $325 $203 $196 $125 $216 $134 $236 $180 $142 $119 $85 $117 $159 $144 $105 $161 $171 $116 $148 $124 $115 $298 $112 $242 $114 $122 $159 $189 $705 $201 $203 $234 $110 $173 $144 $121 $189 $134 $117 $127 $170 $274 $382 $346 $295 $108 $162 $331 $212 $209 * Estimate ** Forecast 1 Atlanta Austin Baltimore Boston Charlotte Chicago Cincinnati Cleveland Columbus Dallas/Fort Worth Denver Detroit Fort Lauderdale Houston Indianapolis Jacksonville Kansas City Las Vegas Los Angeles Louisville Miami Milwaukee Minneapolis-St. Paul Nashville New Haven New York City Northern New Jersey Oakland Orange County Orlando Philadelphia Phoenix Pittsburgh Portland Riverside-San Bernardino Sacramento Salt Lake City San Antonio San Diego San Francisco San Jose Seattle-Tacoma St. Louis Tampa-St. Petersburg Washington, D.C. West Palm Beach U.S. Metro Total See Statistical Summary Note on page 64. page 33 Los Angeles National Office Property Index Down 9 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6.0% 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 6.0 18% 4.5 16% 3.0 14% 1.5 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $34 6% $31 4% $28 2% $25 0% $22 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 5 The Los Angeles office market will make strides this year after struggling to gain traction since the onset of the recovery. Office vacancy has languished in a narrow range since the middle of 2009, when the national economy began to emerge from the recession. However, some of the weakness over the past few years can be attributed to leases that were signed during the latter stages of 2006 and 2007. This year, with most companies in expansion mode, space commitments inked during 2008 and 2009 will be insufficient to support higher staffing levels. As a result, several firms are expected to widen their footprints, pulling vacancy below the 15 percent threshold for the first time since the recovery. Developers are moving in step with the projected increase in space demand, which will keep the pace of operational improvement sluggish. More than 1.5 million square feet of space is slated for completion this year without pre-leasing commitments. A wide range of opportunities will greet investors in Los Angeles this year, lifting transaction velocity. At the institutional level, the presence of new construction and profit-taking by buyers who purchased at the bottom of the market will facilitate a few Class A deals. Average cap rates for these properties can dip below 6 percent for best-in-class assets. Private investors will also find potential acquisitions across the county, though elevated due diligence will be required when deals are considered. First-year returns in the lower tiers range widely based on location and tenant rosters. Well-located Class B listings can change hands at cap rates in the 6 to 7 percent range. Investors with a tenant-in-tow or strong background in the local office market will be the predominate players on the rung below institutional-grade properties. Capital is also moving into the office sector from other commercial property types. Although the upside potential is significant, investors will need to practice a heightened level of caution as lower-tier assets could be more than two years away from seeing significant tenant demand. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 14, Down 9 Places. A surge in speculative construction dragged down Los Angeles nine spots in the ranking. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will expand payrolls 2.5 percent in 2015 as 104,000 jobs are created. Office-using employment will jump 3.9 percent, or 41,000 positions. Sales Trends $300 ■■ Construction Forecast: Builders will complete 2.4 million square feet of office space this year, up from nearly 800,000 square feet in 2014. $280 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Stronger leasing will support a 90-basis point decline in vacancy to 14.2 percent. Last year, the rate dipped 20 basis points. $260 $240 $220 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 14 Employers Plan Expansion; Activity to Boost Absorption and Lift Investor Activity Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Following a 5.1 percent increase in asking rents in 2014, rents will advance 4.6 percent to $32.77 per square foot this year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Playa Vista continues to expand rapidly, which is pushing office space demand into El Segundo and other secondary areas. Investors may consider properties in the path of growth. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 34 Employment: 2.5% s Construction: 1.6M s Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 4.6% s Louisville Down 6 Places | 2015 Rank: 32 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 26 Rising Space Demand May Trigger More Deals, Establish Price Benchmark in Louisville ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 32, Down 6 Places. Louisville slipped 6 positions in the ranking as office asking rents remain attractive for tenants. Year-over-Year Change 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 0% 11 Square Feet (millions) Completions ■■ Rent Forecast: The metrowide rent decreased 1.7 percent last year, but lower vacancy will enable operators to lift the average rent 2.0 percent in 2015, to $15.87 per square foot. ■■ Investment Forecast: Older high-vacancy office buildings in the CBD will remain targeted by developers for repositioning to multifamily use. 14* 15** Absorption Vacancy 14% 0.5 12% 0 10% -0.5 -1.0 8% 11 12 13 14 15** 6% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 8% $17 4% $16 0% $15 -4% $14 11 12 13 14 15** -8% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: A 90-basis point drop in the vacancy rate this year to 10.6 percent will occur; the rate was unchanged in 2014. 13 1.0 ■■ Employment Forecast: Hiring will accelerate in 2015 with the creation of 15,400 jobs. A projected gain of 2,500 professional and business services positions will account for most of the increase in office-using employment. ■■ Construction Forecast: The completion of 80,000 square feet in 2015 will expand office stock nominally. Last year, 475,000 square feet came online. 12 Office Supply and Demand Asking Rents per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Despite the solid performance of local properties and a history of restrained supply growth, few office properties changed hands in the Louisville market last year. Cap rates in recently executed deals reside in the mid-8 to mid-9 percent range, while the average price has tracked a steady climb over the past four years, primarily reflecting sales of top assets. A more notable influx of out-of-area capital will not likely occur until yield-driven investors exhaust efforts to make purchases in larger markets. Local investors, however, will continue to explore opportunities in Louisville’s East End, a prominent residential area that also boasts a sizable stock of well-performing office properties. Owners of office buildings here may increasingly seek to monetize recent improvements in vacancy and rents to either sell in the year ahead or refinance to free capital for other purchases. Nonfarm 6.0% Vacancy Rate The Louisville office market is positioned for stronger operations this year as demand intensifies and completions dwindle. Payrolls in the market returned to their pre-recession peak several months before the U.S. did and are growing consistently and broadly. One major office-using sector, professional and business services, exceeds its former high in staffing, while financial services headcounts will reach a new peak in 2015. After backfilling underutilized space, more substantial expansions of tenant footprints should occur in the coming year as improving business conditions support growth and require additional hiring. The absorption of space in the Louisville CBD, where physical vacancy hovered near 11 percent at the end of last year, marks a trend to watch in the year ahead. Class A property owners there continue to dangle attractive rents and generous leasing incentives to lure new tenants from suburban locations or outside of the metro. A buildup of hotel stock in the urban core and Ohio River bridge improvements are added incentives for prospective CBD tenants to weigh. Employment Trends $120 $110 $100 $90 $80 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.4% s Construction: 395K t Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 2.0% s Market Forecast page 35 Miami National Office Property Index Up 4 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2.0 18% 1.5 16% 1.0 14% 0.5 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $32 4% $30 2% $28 0% $26 -2% $24 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 11 Office properties in Miami-Dade continue to chart a respectable recovery, buoyed by restrained construction and growing space demand. High-end space in the CBD is attracting new tenants, and additional large layouts remain for further expansions and relocations during 2015. Conditions in the suburbs are also strengthening, with 13 consecutive quarters of positive net absorption recorded through the end of last year. In the suburbs, Coral Gables remains a competitively priced alternative to the CBD. Vacancy in the submarket is falling steadily and demand is rising faster than the countywide rate of growth. Office construction in Miami-Dade is muted and may remain so for some time. Notably, the massive Miami Worldcenter mixed-use project has no office space in the 765,000-square foot initial phase that is slated to begin construction this year. Generally, commercial builders remain focused upon filling more rapidly expanding needs for housing, retail and hospitality space than employing coveted development sites for office stock. The migration of new and expanding tenants to existing space is rendering more properties sellable at a time when investor interest in local assets is rising. High-quality stabilized properties remain a primary investment target, with initial yields for Class A buildings sitting in the low- to mid-6 percent range. Class B properties with stable occupancy and sound credit profiles in the tenant mix attract smaller, local buyers and can trade at cap rates ranging up to 8 percent. Many of these properties had substantial vacancies during the downturn due to closures of residential real estate firms but are steadily attracting new tenants to backfill vacancy. Debt is increasingly available for purchases, though lenders are primarily focused on asset performance, location and the strength of the borrower. The accelerating market and limited construction, however, will likely encourage debt providers to expand lending parameters as 2015 proceeds. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 7, Up 4 Places. Miami moved into the top 10 of the Index behind a strong projected vacancy decrease. ■■ Employment Forecast: Staffing will swell 3.2 percent, or by 35,000 positions, in Miami-Dade during 2015, including more than 10,000 jobs in primary office-using employment sectors. Growth in professional and business services contributed to a gain of 28,000 total jobs last year. Sales Trends $260 ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will place in service only 400,000 square feet, exceeding last year’s scant total of 121,000 square feet. $230 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: The vacancy rate will slide 160 basis points to 13.1 percent; a 170-basis point plunge occurred in 2014. $200 $170 $140 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rents per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 7 Another Year of Subdued Completions Strengthens Miami-Dade Market Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: A growing economy and rising space demand will underpin a 3.9 percent increase in the average rent to $30.03 per square foot in 2015. The year-end average rent last topped $30 per square foot seven years ago. * Estimate** Forecast ■■ Investment Forecast: Foreign capital will continue to flow into Miami-Dade and increasingly favor the value proposition offered by office assets. Market Forecast Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 279K s Vacancy: 160 bps t Asking Rents: 3.9% s page 36 Milwaukee No Change | 2015 Rank: 44 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 44 Accelerating Office Job Growth Will Boost Milwaukee’s Market and Entice Investors ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 44, No Change. Milwaukee stayed near the bottom of the NOPI as operations will only improve modestly. ■■ Employment Forecast: The creation of 20,000 jobs will increase employment by 2.3 percent during 2015. Office-using employment will grow at a clip of 3.7 percent. Year-over-Year Change 4% 2% 0% -2% 11 Square Feet (millions) Completions ■■ Investment Forecast: Amazon will complete a second building in nearby Kenosha this year, adding 1 million square feet of distribution space and more than 1,000 jobs. The increased economic activity will likely generate investor interest in office properties along the Interstate 94 corridor in the southeastern portion of the metro. 14* 15** Absorption Vacancy 18% 0.5 17% 0 16% -0.5 15% -1.0 11 12 13 14 15** 14% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $17 2% $16 1% $15 0% $14 -1% $13 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Rent Forecast: The decline in vacancy will allow operators to lift asking rents 0.5 percent to $16.07 per square foot in 2015. Last year, rents dipped 0.5 percent. 13 1.0 ■■ Construction Forecast: Last year’s output will more than double during 2015 as 300,000 square feet of office space will come online. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Rising demand for office space will drop vacancy 40 basis points to 15.2 percent this year, building on a 20-basis point drop in 2014. 12 Office Supply and Demand Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Investors are attracted to Milwaukee’s improving office operations, lower entry costs, and the potential for higher yields than are available in most larger metros. Many buyers tend to favor medical or single-tenant office properties with credit tenants. Increased competition for these less management-intensive assets from out-of-state investors, however, requires buyers to be willing to expand their portfolio parameters and consider a wider range of property types, locations or sizes. Local investors, meanwhile, are targeting lower-tier value-add properties, especially east of the river in downtown and near employment hubs in Waukesha County, at cap rates that typically start in the mid-8 percent range. Nonfarm 6% Vacancy Rate The brightening employment outlook will bolster office operations in Milwaukee. The metro will create nearly 7,000 office-using positions this year, requiring some companies to lease additional office space. The increase in tenant demand has developers ramping up construction. Office inventory will expand by 300,000 square feet in 2015 as a new building for Kohl’s is completed. The company has converted the former InnoWare warehouse into office space and has purchased four other properties near its corporate campus for expansion. Also underway are 833 East, due in 2016, and the Northwestern Mutual Tower slated for completion in 2017. Together these buildings will add 1.5 million square feet to downtown inventory. Although construction is ramping up, the adaptive re-use of some downtown Class B/C office buildings into hotels or apartments, coupled with increased leasing efforts, will contract vacancy to a six-year low and allow owners to post modest rent gains. Employment Trends $120 $105 $90 $75 $60 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.3% s Construction: 160K s Vacancy: 40 bps t Asking Rents: 0.5% s Market Forecast page 37 Minneapolis-St. Paul National Office Property Index Down 3 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6.0% 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 16% 2 15% 0 14% -2 13% -4 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 6% $18 3% $16 0% $14 -3% $12 11 12 13 14 15** -6% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 13 The Minneapolis-St. Paul office market will strengthen this year, bolstered by large corporate profits and small-business growth that has generated more than 160,000 jobs over the past five years, including 40,000 in office-using sectors. The metro’s highly skilled labor force continues to attract companies to the region as existing employers expand, generating office construction. Downtown East will dominate office development this year as the first of two 600,000-square foot towers for Wells Fargo is completed near the new Vikings stadium. This will impact occupancy in select submarkets as the company consolidates employees and vacates leased space throughout the metro. United Healthcare will finish its current expansion with two additional office towers on its Minnetonka campus totaling 850,000 square feet. Also, the largest speculative project underway is Offices @ MOA. The 180,000-square foot tower in Bloomington is adjacent to the Mall of America and light rail. Despite rising construction, vacancy will still fall in 2015, supporting increased rents this year. The thriving local economy and improving office fundamentals are attracting investor capital to the metro. The sale of trophy properties among institutional investors will continue with assets targeted in downtown Minneapolis and along Interstates 394 and 494. At the other end of the spectrum, obsolete office buildings in walkable neighborhoods and near transit will be targeted by developers for residential or hotel conversions, or for remodeling to add open floor plans and natural light to attract creative and tech companies. Throughout the region, the boom in development has driven the rise in construction costs above the national pace, escalating the price of tenant improvements, which could dampen NOI growth going forward. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 16, Down 3 Places. Other metros moved past the Twin Cities, facilitating a three-spot fall in the Index. ■■ Employment Forecast: A total of 30,000 jobs will be generated in the metro during 2015, expanding payrolls by 1.6 percent. Office-using employment will rise 2.2 percent, or by 10,000 positions. ■■ Construction Forecast: During 2015, 1.8 million square feet will come online, up from last year’s 1.5 million square feet. Although office construction is dominated by build-to-suit projects, nearly 400,000 square feet of competitive office space will be completed. $140 $125 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will fall 60 basis points to 13.2 percent, the lowest rate in six years. Last year, vacancy dropped 80 basis points. $110 ■■ Rent Forecast: As vacancy dips, metrowide asking rents will jump 3.9 percent to $18.70 per square foot in 2015, after a 3.8 percent climb last year. $95 $80 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 16 Thriving Minneapolis-St. Paul Office Market Faces Headwinds as Construction and Labor Costs Rise Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Medical office assets will remain the focus of many investors at cap rates that begin in the high-7 percent range for quality properties in prime locations. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 38 Employment: 1.6% s Construction: 300K s Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 3.9% s Nashville Up 6 Places | 2015 Rank: 9 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 15 Rock-Solid Job Creation and Office Fundamentals Have Investors Rolling into Nashville ■■ Employment Forecast: Metro employment will rise 3.1 percent in 2015 with the addition of 26,500 jobs. This includes 10,500 office-using positions, a 5.0 percent year-over-year increase. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will complete 210,000 square feet this year, expanding office inventory 0.3 percent. Last year, 802,000 square feet came online. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Limited new supply and elevated office demand will pull down vacancy 90 basis points to 9.0 percent in 2015. Vacancy tumbled 150 basis points one year earlier. ■■ Rent Forecast: In 2015, rent growth will accelerate 4.1 percent to $21.85 per square foot, following a 4.0 percent climb last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Class B/C properties with higher vacancies in northern Nashville and the Airport Area will present value-add opportunities to yield-driven investors. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 2 12% 1 11% 0 10% -1 9% -2 11 12 13 14 15** 8% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 9, Up 6 Places. Nashville moved into the top 10, supported by one of the nation’s lowest vacancy rates. 8% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 6% $21 4% $20 2% $19 0% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Robust job creation and improving fundamentals are generating excitement among investors, expanding the pool of motivated buyers. However, strong rent gains are encouraging owners to hold properties, limiting for-sale inventory. The diminishing amount of trophy listings and restrained new development will intensify competition among REITs and institutions, investors that once dominated the buyer pool. Meanwhile, high-net-worth private investors will target properties downtown in the revitalized Gulch neighborhood and near major employment centers in Brentwood, Franklin and Cool Springs. Stabilized properties that require minimal lease renewals in the near term can receive multiple offers when competitively priced. Rising property values will encourage owners who were contemplating listing their properties over the next few years to consider exit strategies. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate Nashville employment will record healthy gains in 2015, benefiting office operations. Growth is widespread, though significant drivers this year will be in traditional office-using sectors, including professional and business services and financial activities. In recent years, Aramark and UBS each committed to hiring 1,000 workers, and other corporate expansions and relocations by companies such as AIG, NaviHealth and Healthstream continue to unfold. Meanwhile, employment prospects are attracting more residents to the metro, supporting rapid population growth that will also fuel gains in the healthcare sector and foster demand for medical office floor prints. As companies absorb existing space, available inventory will fall below 10 percent, one of the few markets in the nation to achieve single-digit vacancy. Although space will become challenging to find, developers remain cautious and deliveries will account for a small fraction of pre-recession output. Further downward pressure on vacancy will allow for another year of healthy rent growth. Employment Trends $160 $145 $130 $115 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.1% s Construction: 500K t Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 4.1% s Market Forecast page 39 New Haven National Office Property Index Down 8 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Completions Absorption Vacancy 20% 0.5 19% 0 18% -0.5 17% 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) 1.0 -1.0 16% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $30 6% $29 4% $28 2% $27 0% $26 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 37 The office market in New Haven and Fairfield counties will continue its steady recovery this year as employment inches closer to the pre-recession peak and companies expand their footprints. This year, led by gains in the education and health services and professional and business services sectors, total employment will come within 1 percent of replenishing the jobs lost during the financial crisis. As hiring increases, many office tenants are beginning to outgrow their current leases and penning new ones within the two-county market, which will help push vacancy down. The construction pipeline will begin to grow this year; however, only one major project is scheduled to be delivered. The first phase of Downtown Crossing in New Haven will add roughly 500,000 square feet to existing stock. The project will be anchored by Alexion Pharmaceuticals, which will initially employ 300 at the site and add another 300 workers over the next five years. Rising tenant demand will support rent growth again this year as tenants compete for available space. Average asking rents have posted modest increases in three out of the past four years. Stable economic growth and higher yields than are available in other nearby metros will continue to draw investors to New Haven and Fairfield counties. Large institutions will search for Class A properties, which can dip into the mid-6 percent cap rate range. Class B listings in Fairfield County, where initial yields are in the low-7 percent bracket, will garner the most investor interest. Investors seeking larger returns will look in New Haven County, where initial yields average 25 to 50 basis points higher. Demand for medical office properties will remain elevated; however, limited listings will generate intense competition for adequately priced assets. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 45, Down 8 Places. Soft employment growth and high vacancy dragged down New Haven to near the bottom of the NOPI. ■■ Employment Forecast: This year, employers in New Haven and Fairfield counties will add 12,500 new positions, boosting total employment 1.5 percent. Employers in the primary office-using sectors will add 3,300 jobs. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will bring online 500,000 square feet of space in 2015, increasing inventory 0.6 percent. Last year, a mere 60,000 square feet was completed. $200 $175 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Average vacancy in the two-county market will fall 50 basis points this year to 18.9 percent, after posting a 90-basis point rise last year. $150 $125 $100 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 45 Stable Economic Growth, Tightening Operations Lure Yield-Seeking Buyers Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Vacancy improvements will enable operators to lift average asking rents 1.5 percent to $29.80 per square foot, eclipsing last year’s 0.5 percent bump in asking rents. ■■ Investment Forecast: Rising office-using employment and tightening vacancy will fuel demand for high-vacancy upper-tier properties from opportunistic buyers this year. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 40 Employment: 1.5% s Construction: 440K s Vacancy: 50 bps t Asking Rents: 1.5% s New York City Down 1 Place | 2015 Rank: 4 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 3 Demand Outpaces Supply Additions; Owners Convert Industrial to Office Use ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will boost hiring 2.3 percent with the addition of 92,500 workers; 22,000 jobs will be in the primary office-using sectors. Last year, 85,000 positions were created. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will place 2.8 million square feet into service this year, down from 3.9 million square feet in 2014. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Healthy tenant demand in 2015 will pull down vacancy 60 basis points to 9.2 percent on net absorption of nearly 6.3 million square feet. Last year, the rate fell 110 basis points. ■■ Rent Forecast: Operators will lift average asking rents 7.0 percent this year to $59.65 per square foot. In 2014, asking rents rose 6.7 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Potential zoning changes this year could create some headwinds to transaction velocity, possibly changing which industrial properties can be converted to office. These restrictions could impact property values and promote office construction in Brooklyn and Queens. Year-over-Year Change 2% 1% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 12 12% 9 11% 6 10% 3 9% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 8% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 4, Down 1 Place. New York retained one of the top spots in the ranking as vacancy stays below the 10 percent level. 3% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $60 8% $55 6% $50 4% $45 2% $40 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Tight conditions will support some of the fastest rent gains in the country. Strong rent growth and an expanding economy will draw a wide array of investors to the city. Foreign investors, drawn to the relative stability of the U.S. economy and the brand recognition of New York, will target assets in Manhattan. Institutional buyers and high-net-worth individuals will look for trophy assets in Midtown and Lower Manhattan and smaller properties throughout the boroughs. In Brooklyn and parts of Queens, value-add investors will search for industrial properties within a reasonable walking distance of transit hubs that can be converted into office space. Nonfarm 4% Vacancy Rate Following expansions by Google and Amazon last year, demand for office space in New York City will remain strong in 2015 as tenants scour the market for large blocks of space. Cadillac, for instance, has announced it will be moving its office from Detroit to Manhattan in 2015. Meanwhile, Samsung continues its quest for additional square footage, planning to lease up to 1 million square feet on the island. Growing tech firms will generate additional demand for office assets as vendors follow suit. Properties with lower rents, access to transportation routes and proximity to a skilled labor force will also draw many companies to Brooklyn and Long Island City. Yet, a lack of available office space and the high cost of new construction will push owners to convert well-located industrial properties into new office space. Throughout the five boroughs, the completion of office buildings will slow this year as the number and size of new properties declines. The largest project scheduled to be completed this year is 10 Hudson Yards. At 1.7 million square feet, it pales in comparison to last year’s delivery of One World Trade Center, which exceeded 3 million square feet. The ebb in construction, and rising demand, will enable vacancy to dip to the lowest point since 2008. Employment Trends $720 $640 $560 $480 $400 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.3% s Construction: 1.1M t Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 7.0% s Market Forecast page 41 Northern New Jersey National Office Property Index Down 7 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 22% 1 20% 0 18% -1 16% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 14% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $26 4% $25 2% $24 0% $23 -2% $22 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 34 Rents on the west side of the Hudson River can average 50 percent less than those in New York City, enticing many companies to migrate to Hudson County. Charles Komar & Sons, an apparel company with a 100-year history in Manhattan, will move its workforce of nearly 500 and showrooms to Jersey City. Also, Actavis, a pharmaceutical company, will consolidate 400 jobs, including from locations in Long Island and New York City, to Jersey City this year. Meanwhile, owners of large vacant corporate campuses in the suburbs are converting space to industrial use, further reducing office inventory and placing downward pressure on vacancy. In Secaucus, at the former Panasonic headquarters, office buildings are being torn down as others are being rebuilt for data center tenants. At the former Bayer HealthCare campus in Wayne, Driscoll Foods will replace existing vacant office buildings with a 400,000-square foot distribution center and headquarters. Though older buildings are being removed, office deliveries will increase this year with the completion of the 750,000-square foot Prudential Tower in Newark and various smaller medical office buildings, some of which are speculative. Rising employment and steady improvements to operations will boost investor optimism in Northern New Jersey this year, particularly in Hudson County. Higher yields than are available for similar assets in New York City will lure additional buyers to the region. Institutional investors will remain dominant along the river, targeting assets near major transportation routes. As corporate expansion continues along the Gold Coast, opportunistic investors will intensify their search for high-quality assets with high vacancy to attract tenants at market rate rents. Local high-net-worth individuals will seek assets in central business districts and near transit stations throughout the region. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 41, Down 7 Places. Northern New Jersey has the weakest job growth rate forecast in the country, pulling down the market in the NOPI. ■■ Employment Forecast: In 2015, employers will add 15,000 jobs in the six-county region, lifting total employment 0.8 percent. Office-using employment will rise 1.2 percent with the creation of 6,000 positions. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers are on track to deliver 835,000 square feet a 0.5 percent increase to existing office stock. In 2014, approximately 660,000 square feet was placed into service. $210 $185 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Average vacancy will ease 40 basis points in 2015 to 19.3 percent. A 60-basis point decline was recorded last year. $160 $135 $110 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 41 Tenants From Manhattan Drawn to Gold Coast; Owners Reposition Suburban Office Space Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: As vacancy edges down, operators will push up average asking rents 2.0 percent to $25.79 per square foot. In 2014, asking rents rose 2.5 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: This year high-net-worth individuals will scour Bergen, Essex and Passaic counties for available assets whose owners have maturing loans and that can be leased with minimum cost. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 42 Employment: 0.8% s Construction: 290K s Vacancy: 40 bps t Asking Rents: 2.0% s Oakland Down 1 Place | 2015 Rank: 17 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 16 Operations in East Bay Improving Dramatically; Investors Shifting Focus to Oakland/Walnut Creek ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 17, Down 1 Place. The East Bay slipped one position in the Index despite rapidly improving office operations in core areas. Year-over-Year Change 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 ■■ Rent Forecast: Rapidly declining vacancy for the second consecutive year will facilitate 6.6 percent asking rent growth this year to $27.10 per square foot. In 2014, asking rents surged 5.7 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Opportunities to purchase office properties in the East Bay at elevated cap rates are quickly evaporating as buyers take notice of the improving operations. 14* 15** Square Feet (millions) Absorption Vacancy 6 18% 4 16% 2 14% 0 12% -2 11 12 13 14 15** 10% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $28 8% $26 4% $24 0% $22 -4% $20 11 12 13 14 15** -8% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will decline 140 basis points in 2015 to 12.7 percent, building on a 280-basis point fall last year. 13 Office Supply and Demand ■■ Employment Forecast: Employment growth will surge 2.8 percent in 2015 as 29,500 spots are created. Office-using employment will increase 4.2 percent with 10,500 new jobs. ■■ Construction Forecast: Only 10,000 square feet of space will be added to inventory this year, after no stock came online in 2014. 12 Completions Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Investors that had shied away from East Bay office properties are reconsidering acquisitions due to elevated cap rates, though deal flow remains light heading into 2015. Buyers remain cautious due to the nascent nature of the office recovery in the area. Additionally the prevalence of construction in the other Bay Area markets could mitigate the amount of spillover demand that will find its way into East Bay office buildings. As a result, buyers who act quickly can take advantage of both low interest rates and low competition. Another year of strong operational performance locally and compressing cap rates elsewhere may send a wave of buyers into Oakland late this year, evaporating the opportunity to buy closer to the bottom of the real estate cycle. Average cap rates in the East Bay are 300 to 500 basis points higher than across the bridge in the city, supporting tremendous upside for owners. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate The East Bay office market came into its own last year after being overshadowed by the high-performing San Francisco and San Jose metros in the early stages of this robust cycle. Office owners are beginning to reshape the market to attract tech firms seeking additional space or those priced out of other areas in the Bay Area. The old Sears building in Oakland, for example, is undergoing a speculative transformation that caters to technology firms. The six-story property is located near a BART station and could anchor gentrification efforts due to the relatively low cost of housing and ample supply of entertainment options. Other areas in the East Bay are also performing well due to heightened demand from technology and healthcare firms. Ellie Mae, for instance, will move into 100,000 square feet of space in Pleasanton during the first half of the year. Astex Pharmaceuticals also signed a significant lease in the same office park. Additionally, architecture firm Gensler is moving workers to the area due to the proximity of the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. Employment Trends $240 $220 $200 $180 $160 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.8% s Construction: 10K s Vacancy: 140 bps t Asking Rents: 6.6% s Market Forecast page 43 Orange County National Office Property Index Up 3 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 20% 3 18% 2 16% 1 14% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $28 8% $26 4% $24 0% $22 -4% $20 11 12 13 14 15** -8% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 8 Orange County is entering the third year of an office recovery behind healthy growth in the professional and business services sector. The county’s reliance on the mortgage industry prior to the recession has hindered the pace of the recovery thus far as the area redefines its base industries. Still, a comparison to the overheated nature of office performance metrics during the mid-2000s fails to reflect the traction office operators have gained in the past several quarters. Vacancy will dip below the 15 percent threshold this year and space demand will approach the previous peak, achieved in 2005. Nonetheless, high overall vacancy will keep asking rents for available space more than 15 percent below the previous high watermark despite solid gains anticipated this year. Development activity, meanwhile, is beginning to work in leasing managers’ favor. Several large projects came online in 2014, but construction will slow to a crawl in 2015. Buyers have moved ahead of the operational recovery in Orange County, which is keeping cap rates relatively low and has some local operators reconsidering investment strategies ahead of schedule. Investors who were enamored with South Orange County, including Irvine and Newport, are now seeking assets in other established office districts near the airport and Costa Mesa. The migration toward older areas where cap rates are higher and competition is muffled will continue through this year as investors chase larger spreads. In the most sought-after areas, first-year returns regularly dip below 6 percent, while properties in established submarkets trade for up to 100 basis points higher. Although buyers are becoming more active in the county, suburban listings will need a good story to attract interest. Owner-users who can take advantage of low interest rates and SBA loans, meanwhile, have a limited window to purchase before risking a higher cost of capital. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 5, Up 3 Places. A dramatic decline in the local vacancy rate and significant reduction in construction supported a three-position rise to this year’s ranking. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will add 34,000 positions in Orange County this year, including 14,000 jobs in traditional office-using sectors, representing growth of 2.3 and 3.4 percent, respectively. Sales Trends $240 ■■ Construction Forecast: Only 160,000 square feet of office space will come online in 2015, down from 1.4 million square feet last year. $225 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Strong tenant demand will support a 130-basis point drop in vacancy to 13.8 percent. In 2014, vacancy fell 110 basis points. $210 $195 $180 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 5 Orange County Office Recovery Continues to Impress; Investor Demand Spilling into Secondary Areas Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Available space will be marketed at $26.04 per square foot at year-end 2015, up 5.3 percent annually. Last year, asking rents jumped 7.1 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Investors will become more active in older office districts this year in an effort to achieve higher returns. However, institutional buyers will target the handful of Class A properties that become available. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 44 Employment: 2.3% s Construction: 1.2M t Vacancy: 130 bps t Asking Rents: 5.3% s Orlando Up 5 Places | 2015 Rank: 34 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 39 Higher Tenant Traffic in Prime Orlando Hubs, Putting Downward Pressure on Vacancy Rate ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, staffing will expand 3.1 percent through the addition of 35,000 positions. The total includes 4,500 new posts in professional and business services, an office-using sector. ■■ Construction Forecast: A mere 190,000 square feet of space will be completed this year, down from 398,000 square feet in 2014. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Strengthening space demand will cut the vacancy rate 130 basis points to 15.2 percent, the lowest year-end reading since 2008. A decrease of 90 basis points occurred during 2014. ■■ Rent Forecast: Operators will raise the average rent 3.0 percent to $19.64 per square foot, outpacing the 1.7 percent rate of growth in 2014. ■■ Investment Forecast: Commodity-type suburban properties will generate some interest from investors, but pricing may be suppressed by lenders’ near-term vacancy assumptions. Year-over-Year Change 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 2.0 20% 1.5 18% 1.0 16% 0.5 14% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 12% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 34, Up 5 Places. As asking rents gained traction and construction remained limited, Orlando reversed course and edged higher. 4% Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 4% $19 2% $18 0% $17 -2% $16 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Vacancy Rate The lack of competition from new supply is supporting modest gains in rents and a gradual rise in operating incomes. While a greater number of properties in the area may be sellable due to recent performance gains, transaction activity remains limited by a lack of inventory for sale. Accordingly, owners of well-located, low-vacancy properties contemplating near-term dispositions may accelerate timelines and list properties this year to tap unfulfilled investor demand. Cap rates in recent transactions average in the 8-percent band, offering a sizable spread over lending rates. Private, local investors and groups remain the principal buyer pool in the metro. REITs, though, also own properties in the market and may take advantage of buyer interest in performing, best-in-class assets to shuffle portfolios and liberate capital this year. Investor interest in office-to-multifamily conversions also continues to grow, with downtown Orlando a primary target. Nonfarm -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot Hiring in Orlando is steadily grinding down vacancy in select areas of Orange and Seminole counties, but other parts of the metro are lagging. Most of the space absorbed recently has been in Orange County, in areas that include downtown Orlando and the Tourist Corridor. Lake Mary in Seminole County also continues to perform well due to its proximity to executive housing and a degreed workforce. The economic recovery, though, is translating to less vigorous improvements in office operations in other parts of the metro, including Metro West and Kissimmee. Dark spaces in core areas will need to backfill more completely to drive additional tenants to these areas, a trend that will improve only modestly this year. Despite growing demand in select areas, office developers have not yet responded. Inventory is increasing only nominally, and a significant portion of new space last year was in the 220,000-square foot fully pre-leased Verizon Financial Center in Lake Mary. Employment Trends $200 $175 $150 $125 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.1% s Construction: 208K t Vacancy: 130 bps t Asking Rents: 3.0% s Market Forecast page 45 Philadelphia National Office Property Index Down 2 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 2.0% 1.5% 1.0% 0.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 17% 2 16% 1 15% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 14% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $24 2% $23 1% $22 0% $21 -1% $20 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent -2% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 23 Philadelphia’s steady employment gains will generate new office demand as tenants outgrow their current leases, pushing down vacancy as supply growth decelerates. This year total employment will come within 1 percent of the pre-recession peak. In Southern New Jersey, competitive tax incentives are encouraging expansions by local companies, supporting job retention and creation. Subaru will retain its North American headquarters in the metro as it moves from Cherry Hill to a larger space in Camden, where it will increase its workforce by 100 jobs. Meanwhile, Cooper Health will consolidate 350 administrative positions in Cherry Hill and Mount Laurel to a larger office in Camden. Towers Watson, Lockheed Martin and Holtec International have made similar moves. Despite the additional demand, construction of office space will occur in a handful of projects, most of which will deliver in the first half of the year. Completions will accelerate in 2016 with the delivery of the FMC tower in University City. The brief pause in office completions will enable vacancy to dip to the lowest point since early 2009. Tightening vacancy, the metro’s stable economy and higher yields than available in other major metros in the Northeast are boosting investor confidence and luring buyers to Philadelphia. Older, high-vacancy office properties in suburban locations will draw opportunistic investors who have the wherewithal to upgrade and reposition. Initial yields for these assets can exceed 9 percent in some cases. Institutional investors will target stabilized upper-tier properties in the CBD and near King of Prussia, where cap rates can dip into the low-5 percent range. Class C listings, particularly those in downtown Philadelphia and University City, will attract the attention of local buyers. Some of these properties will be renovated into creative office space while others are repurposed for residential use or hotels. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 25, Down 2 Places. Limited rent growth resulted in Philadelphia’s two-spot decline. ■■ Employment Forecast: Philadelphia area employers will boost total employment 0.9 percent in 2015 with the addition of 25,000 jobs. Primary office-using sectors will add 11,500 workers to payrolls. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: After completing 930,000 square feet last year, office deliveries will plummet in 2015 as a mere 150,000 square feet is placed into service. Construction is expected to accelerate next year. $180 $160 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Elevated demand for office space will push down vacancy 60 basis points this year to 15.5 percent, following a 10-basis point rise in 2014. $140 $120 $100 2015 Rank: 25 Corporate Expansions Drive Office Demand; High Yields Draw Investors Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Average asking rents will increase 1.5 percent in 2015 to $23.21 per square foot. Last year, asking rents rose 1.3 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Strong job gains in the education and health services sector will create additional demand for medical office assets. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 46 Employment: 0.9% s Construction: 780K t Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 1.5% s Phoenix Up 1 Place | 2015 Rank: 21 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 22 Build-to-Suit Heats Up in Phoenix; Tech Boosts Space Demand ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 21, Up 1 Place. Phoenix remained in the top half of the Index as conditions continue to improve. Year-over-Year Change 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 Square Feet (millions) Completions ■■ Rent Forecast: Average rents will reach $21.64 per square foot in 2015, a 1.9 percent increase. Last year, asking rents climbed 3.0 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: The largest challenge buyers will face this year is limited for-sale inventory, though heightened interest and rising values will motivate more owners to test the market. 14* 15** Absorption Vacancy 26% 3 24% 2 22% 1 20% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 18% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 8% $21 4% $20 0% $19 -4% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -8% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Though completions will double this year, new inventory will come online heavily pre-leased and vacancy will tick up 10 basis points to 20.7 percent. Vacancy fell 20 basis points in 2014. 13 4 ■■ Employment Forecast: Metro employers will create 44,600 jobs in 2015, including 19,000 positions in primary office-using sectors. ■■ Construction Forecast: After completing 1.1 million square feet of office space last year, builders will deliver 2.5 million square feet in 2015. 12 Office Supply and Demand Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Despite relatively high vacancy, the market’s stability and an optimistic economic outlook will attract more investors to Phoenix, sustaining transaction velocity. California investors are particularly active, lured by average cap rates that are up to 200 basis points higher than coastal markets. Opportunistic investors are targeting Class B/C-plus assets with rent growth potential in prime locations in the East Valley and Scottsdale Airpark. While private buyers dominate, institutions will continue their search for best-in-class office properties in established corridors in Scottsdale and North Phoenix where initial yields are in the low-7 percent range. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate More companies are expanding or relocating in Phoenix; however, rather than absorbing existing space, many are building large office complexes. Last year, General Motors and GoDaddy moved their employees to newly built facilities in Chandler and Tempe, leaving behind a significant amount of available inventory to fill. As large blocks of space featuring amenities remain difficult to find, growing companies will continue to expand into newly constructed offices this year as well. California-based tech company Zenefits will add 1,300 workers by 2017, outgrowing its space in Scottsdale and moving to a new 100,000-square foot office nearby. An increase in build-to-suit projects will contribute to completions nearly tripling this year to more than 3 million square feet, the largest addition to inventory in five years. Construction is concentrated in the East Valley. The largest developments are in Tempe, at State Farm Marina Heights and Hayden Ferry Lakeside, and an expansion at Wells Fargo’s campus in Chandler. A wave of new office construction will put slight upward pressure on the vacancy rate, which has hovered in the lowto mid-20 percent range since 2008. Nevertheless, technology, healthcare and financial company job announcements will continue to unfold, helping to backfill space. Employment Trends $160 $140 $120 $100 $80 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.4% s Construction: 1.3M s Vacancy: 10 bps s Asking Rents: 1.9% s Market Forecast page 47 Pittsburgh National Office Property Index Down 4 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6% 4% 2% 0% -2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 16% 1 14% 0 12% -1 10% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 8% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 6.0% $20 4.5% $18 3.0% $16 1.5% $14 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Average Price per Square Foot Sales Trends | 2014 Rank: 29 Steady employment gains led by the education, medical, technology and energy sectors will support healthy absorption in the Pittsburgh office market. More than half of the new positions generated this year will be in traditional office-using segments, boosting space demand. Company expansions and relocations over the past two years have pushed net absorption past the longterm annual average to more than 800,000 square feet. This year, the market will record more than 1 million square feet of net absorption. Despite this milestone, gains in absorption will be offset by a wave of deliveries, which include several speculative projects that are slated for completion over the next two years. Much of the construction is located in high-demand sections of downtown, the airport area and along the Interstate 79 corridor. The largest development to be completed this year is the build-to-suit 800,000-square foot PNC headquarters, which will house 2,200 employees in the central business district. New inventory will put slight upward pressure on vacancy this year, though operators will achieve another year of modest rent gains. Investors seeking higher returns in secondary and tertiary markets will show increased interest in the steady Pittsburgh market, boosting deal flow in 2015. Private investors will search for stabilized Class A/B assets in the CBD or in well-performing northern suburbs such as Cranberry and Wexford. These assets generally bid in the low-8 to mid-9 percent bracket. Properties with tenants in place requiring minimal management will garner the strongest interest from coastal investors seeking assets that trade at prices below what is available in their home markets. These investors, however, should carefully monitor areas receiving significant deliveries this year that may affect property performance. Meanwhile, institutions will scour the market for medical office properties, where best-in-class assets can dip in the mid-6 percent cap rate range. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 33, Down 4 Places. Pittsburgh’s employment forecast is among the lowest in the country, restraining the metro in the NOPI. ■■ Employment Forecast: After adding 8,000 positions last year, employers will create 9,500 jobs in 2014. Of this total, 5,400 workers will be hired in the office-using sectors. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will accelerate the pace of construction this year as 1.4 million square feet is scheduled for completion. In 2014, 1.1 million square feet was delivered. $140 $120 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: In 2015, vacancy will tick up 10 basis points on net absorption of 1.1 million square feet to 14.1 percent. Vacancy rose 20 basis points one year earlier. $100 $80 $60 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 33 Heightened Completions Near Parity With Absorption to Balance Occupancies Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will advance 1.0 percent this year to $20.07 per square foot, following a 1.0 percent increase in 2014. ■■ Investment Forecast: Owners of buildings that have reached peak value, or have tenant rollover will consider testing the market and trade into larger deals while interest rates remain low. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 48 Employment: 0.8% s Construction: 300K s Vacancy: 10 bps s Asking Rents: 1.0% s Portland Down 4 Places | 2015 Rank: 10 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 6 Expanding Tech and Creative Companies Spark Demand for Portland Office Space ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 10, Down 4 Places. Despite tight vacancy, Portland fell four slots in the NOPI as other cities outperformed. Year-over-Year Change 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 ■■ Rent Forecast: Contracting vacancy will enable operators to push up rents. Average asking rents will jump 4.5 percent to $22.09 per square foot during 2015, after a 4.3 percent climb last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: Buyer demand will remain intense for the few medical office assets that become available for sale. 14* 15** Square Feet (millions) Absorption Vacancy 2.0 16% 1.5 14% 1.0 12% 0.5 10% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 8% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $24 6% $22 4% $20 2% $18 0% $16 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will drop 80 basis points to 9.7 percent in 2015, following a 110-basis point decline last year, as tenant demand remains strong amid a rise in construction output. 13 Office Supply and Demand ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, employers will expand payrolls by 35,000 workers, an increase of 3.2 percent. Office-using jobs will account for 8,500 of these positions, a yearly gain of 3.4 percent. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will complete 400,000 square feet of space this year, up from 100,000 square feet last year. 12 Completions Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Strengthening operations and attractive valuations are drawing buyers to office assets in the metro. Portland offers value-add investors an array of underutilized older office buildings in desirable areas. Many of these properties are being renovated to attract creative companies, or are being converted into hotels or apartments. The available supply in the most sought-after submarkets, however, cannot keep pace with buyer demand due in part to a perceived lack of reinvestment potential by some owners. As a result, quality assets for sale in these areas will receive multiple offers. Cap rates that begin in the mid-6 percent range are higher than in most other West Coast metros, drawing many yield-driven buyers, especially from California. First-year returns 50 to 100 basis points higher in the suburbs will move many of these investors farther from the metro core. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate Job growth is approaching a 20-year high, bolstering the metro’s office market during 2015. A large portion of the office-using hiring is in the rapidly expanding apparel and footwear, and tech industries. Many of these creative companies are locating in Portland, where live-work-play neighborhoods are favored by younger employees. The increase in space demand has prompted the renovation of older office buildings with open floor plans, rooftop decks, and bicycle parking that are attractive to these firms. Also, the 30-story Park Avenue West Tower will come online in the downtown area this year, totaling 220,000 square feet. Suburban office parks have been slower to stabilize and draw new tenants, as many lack the amenities companies desire to lure workers. Suburban buildings with updated features and near transit stations should fare better. Additional office space is expected to become available in suburban submarkets as Nike moves employees from leased space to its corporate campus over the next several years. The company plans to start a 1.3 million-square-foot office expansion at its headquarters this year. Employment Trends $200 $175 $150 $125 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.2% s Construction: 300K s Vacancy: 80 bps t Asking Rents: 4.5% s Market Forecast page 49 Riverside-San Bernardino National Office Property Index Up 2 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 4% 0% -4% -8% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2.0 20% 1.5 18% 1.0 16% 0.5 14% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 8% $19 4% $18 0% $17 -4% $16 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent -8% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 33 The recovery of the office market in the Riverside-San Bernardino metro is gathering momentum, as limited construction and a brightening job outlook will support a further drop in vacancy. With the local economy strengthening, every employment sector will add workers this year. Expansions will bolster the addition of more than 6,000 professional and business services positions in 2015, generating new demand for office space. Other employment sectors will also enlarge the population of office-using workers. Rising warehouse and multifamily construction, for example, will require developers to supplement their office staff. Office property completions, though, lag these other sectors. Projects slated for delivery in 2015 will expand office stock nominally and mark a decrease from a similarly subdued level last year. A majority of the space coming online this year is pre-leased and will have little effect on the vacancy rate. With a limited amount of new buildings to attract tenants requiring larger layouts, an increase in space demand will greatly lift the performance of existing buildings. Buoyed by low interest rates and greater access to debt, investors and owner/users are steadily resuming acquisitions in the Riverside-San Bernardino metro. Small-business owners especially remain an active source of capital for purchases of buildings measuring less than 35,000 square feet. Office investors, though, include many out-of-area groups seeking value-add deals in higher-density communities such as Ontario and Riverside. Demand remains elevated for buildings pricing up to $5 million that require re-tenanting and some physical improvements, though listed inventory is insufficient to satisfy buyers’ appetites. Cap rates in the market average from the low-8 to mid-9 percent range and remain highly attractive to yield-driven investors exiting other markets. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 31, Up 2 Places. The Inland Empire’s office market is slowly gaining ground, though the pace of improvement is limited. ■■ Employment Forecast: This year, 35,000 jobs will be created in the two-county metro, a rise of 2.7 percent. Office-using employment will jump 4.5 percent. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: A total of 370,000 square feet is scheduled for delivery this year, growing slightly from last year’s 350,000 square feet. $160 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: The vacancy rate will decrease 40 basis points to 15.5 percent, nearly matching last year’s 70-basis point decline as demand outpaces completions of new space. $145 $130 $115 $100 2015 Rank: 31 Falling Vacancy and Rising Job Growth Bode Well for Inland Empire Investors Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: Operators will once again push up asking rent as vacancy tightens. Average rents will advance 2.1 percent to $19.50 per square foot after last year’s 1.4 percent elevation. ■■ Investment Forecast: Owner-operators will make strong bids for the market’s smaller properties. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 50 Employment: 2.7% s Construction: 20K t Vacancy: 40 bps t Asking Rents: 2.1% s Sacramento Down 4 Places | 2015 Rank: 42 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 38 Record Low Vacancy Brings Investors Back to California Capital ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 42, Down 4 Places. High vacancy is limiting rent improvement, which dragged Sacramento four positions lower. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 Square Feet (millions) Completions ■■ Rent Forecast: Rent will advance 1.0 percent to $20.94 per square foot, after rising 0.4 percent during 2014. ■■ Investment Forecast: A greater number of out-of-state buyers will consider the metro this year, including many who are priced out of primary office markets and see potentially higher returns in Sacramento. 14* 15** Absorption Vacancy 22% 1.5 20% 1.0 18% 0.5 16% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 14% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 4% $21 2% $20 0% $19 -2% $18 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: With minimal completions, vacancy will continue to plummet. The rate will fall to 16.5 percent, 90 basis points below last year’s level. 13 2.0 ■■ Employment Forecast: After moderate growth in 2014, employers will hire 20,000 workers this year, representing a 2.3 percent increase. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will construct 181,000 square feet in the metro, increasing supply by 0.2 percent and up from only 91,000 square feet last year. 12 Office Supply and Demand Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change The investment market is gradually gaining traction as office property operations strengthen, though investors outnumber the assets listed for sale. Within the region, buyers from the Bay Area will increasingly comb Sacramento for investment opportunities that offer higher yields than are available in their home markets. Many owners in Sacramento who have been holding assets to realize potential operating income growth may instead capitalize on investor interest by listing buildings for sale. This year, interest will also develop in properties in the area surrounding a new arena for the Sacramento Kings, which is under construction. The arena may encourage consideration of other commercial development in downtown. Nonfarm 8% Vacancy Rate The Sacramento economy is turning a corner following several years of tepid growth, creating more favorable conditions for office investments. Private-sector employers continue to hire, backfilling empty desks and creating new requirements for larger office layouts. State government payrolls are growing consistently as California’s finances improve, providing an additional leg of support for the office market. After adding more than 2,000 jobs last year, additional staffing needs will lead to the hiring of 3,000 state government workers in 2015. To meet the needs for supplementary staff, CalSTRS, the teacher’s pension fund, has mentioned adding a second building near its new West Sacramento site, among other options for future expansion. With space demand on an upswing, the vacancy rate will decline this year to the lowest annual level in eight years. Developers, though, have yet to respond to the improving operations across the metro. Projects slated for completion in 2015 comprise smaller properties with phased sites that will expand office stock only slightly. An extended period of limited office development will persist, offering an opportunity for owners of existing buildings to fully capitalize on the increase in demand. Employment Trends $140 $130 $120 $110 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.3% s Construction: 90K s Vacancy: 90 bps t Asking Rents: 1.0% s Market Forecast page 51 Salt Lake City National Office Property Index Down 1 Place Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 16% 3 14% 2 12% 1 10% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 8% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 4% $19 2% $18 0% $17 -2% $16 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 12 A large educated workforce and a favorable business climate will continue to attract businesses to the area, creating new demand for office space. In addition, last year’s surge in venture capital funding in Utah will support expansion by technology companies along the Wasatch Front. For example, InsideSales.com received $100 million in funding and will add 300 employees this year. As existing space is filled, rising employment will cause many companies to outgrow their current locations, forcing many to lease additional space. Despite rising demand, office completions will slow this year, though several large projects are scheduled for delivery in 2016. The largest project to be placed into service this year will be the 170,000-square foot speculative Cornerstone I property in Cottonwood Heights. Next year, 111 Tower in downtown Salt Lake City and the Overstock.com headquarters in Midvale will be delivered as building picks up again. The dip in construction will enable vacancy to fall below 11 percent for the first time since mid-2008. Improving vacancy, higher yields than in many other Western metros, and a growing economy will increase investor confidence along the Wasatch Front, boosting demand for office assets. Buyer interest will be heaviest in downtown Salt Lake City and along the Interstate 15 corridor in Salt Lake and Utah counties. Institutional investors will be more dominant in these areas. Local investors will look for office properties along Interstate 215 in eastern Salt Lake County or along I-15 in Davis and Weber counties. Medical office properties will remain in high demand; however, listings will be limited, generating heightened competition for these assets. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 13, Down 1 Place. Salt Lake City fell one spot in the NOPI due to one of the lowest rent growth forecasts in the nation. ■■ Employment Forecast: Overall employment will expand 2.7 percent in 2015 as 30,000 positions are created. Employers in primary office-using sectors will increase payrolls by 10,500 workers. ■■ Construction Forecast: After placing into service 1.2 million square feet of office space in 2014, builders will slow the development pipeline to a mere 530,000 square feet this year. Deliveries are expected to nearly double in 2016. Sales Trends $140 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Limited construction and strong demand will contribute to a 110-basis point decline in vacancy to 10.2 percent in 2015. Last year, vacancy fell 140 basis points. $120 $100 ■■ Rent Forecast: Tight vacancy will enable average asking rents along the Wasatch Front to rise 0.5 percent this year to $17.61 per square foot, after a 1.2 percent decrease in 2014. $80 $60 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 13 Tech Boom in Full Swing as Developers Pause, Raising Investor Confidence Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Redevelopment of the University Mall in Orem and future redevelopment of the Cottonwood Mall in Holladay will create opportunities for investors as the projects add amenities to nearby offices. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 52 Employment: 2.7% s Construction: 690K t Vacancy: 110 bps t Asking Rents: 0.5% s San Antonio Down 2 Places | 2015 Rank: 23 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 21 San Antonio’s Northwest Submarket Remains Frontrunner in Local Job Creation ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 23, Down 2 Places. San Antonio remains in the top half of the ranking as vacancy is expected to drop this year. Year-over-Year Change 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 ■■ Rent Forecast: Similar to last year, rent growth will be moderate in 2015. On average, asking rents will rise 1.1 percent to $19.38 per square foot. ■■ Investment Forecast: Despite San Antonio’s relatively low vacancy rate and strong growth prospects, cap rates have held in a fairly tight band since 2012. The metrowide average of 8.8 percent remains highly favorable compared with other large Texas markets. 14* 15** Square Feet (millions) Absorption Vacancy 2.0 18% 1.5 16% 1.0 14% 0.5 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 10% Rent Trends Asking Rent Y-O-Y Rent Change $20 4% $19 3% $18 2% $17 1% $16 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot ■■ Vacancy Forecast: In 2015, the metro’s vacancy rate will improve 30 basis points to 13.3 percent, following a 90-basis point decline last year. 13 Office Supply and Demand ■■ Employment Forecast: Payrolls will rise 2.2 percent with the addition of 20,700 jobs. The forecast total includes 7,200 new office-using positions. ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will complete 650,000 square feet of office space this year, down from 719,000 square feet in 2014. 12 Completions Asking Rent per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change Sales velocity will rise moderately in 2015 as improved operations prompt more owners to list. Deal flow will remain brisk in the North Central and Northwest submarkets, which contain more than 70 percent of the metro’s office stock. While private investors will continue to dominate the market for smaller to midsize deals, institutional investors and REITs will remain key players in the Class A/B-plus segments and for credit-tenant medical office deals. Last year, institutions and REITs accounted for 50 percent and 20 percent of dollar volume, respectively, up from a collective 21 percent in 2013. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate San Antonio’s office market will tighten this year as construction slows and job creation remains at healthy levels. While oil and gas production in the Eagle Ford Shale has benefited the economy in recent years, the direct impact on San Antonio’s office market has been somewhat limited. As such, recent oil price volatility is unlikely to significantly affect local office fundamentals. Similar to 2014, job creation in traditional office-using employment sectors is forecast to remain elevated, which, coupled with rising healthcare and government payrolls, will continue to support new tenant demand. In recent quarters, USAA and IBEX Global each announced plans to hire up to 1,000 workers this year, while the NSA reported its intention to significantly expand its cybersecurity operations in the metro. Many of the new office jobs will be concentrated in the Northwest submarket, which will also account for the most sizable share of completions in 2015. Relatively tight conditions in the area have encouraged speculative development, but projects have been met with steady demand. The 129,000-square foot WestRidge One at La Cantera, for example, was leased entirely by Harland Clarke soon before its late-2014 completion, while the developer of a similar-size building due for delivery midyear has reported interest from prospective tenants. With the exception of a proposed 200,000-square building in the North Central area, most of the other buildings on tap for this year are medical offices. Employment Trends $180 $160 $140 $120 $100 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.2% s Construction: 70K t Vacancy: 30 bps t Asking Rents: 1.1% s Market Forecast page 53 San Diego National Office Property Index Down 1 Place Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 6.0% 4.5% 3.0% 1.5% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 4 18% 3 16% 2 14% 1 12% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 10% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $30 6% $28 3% $26 0% $24 -3% $22 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent -6% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 7 San Diego’s office market will take another step forward in 2015 as hiring remains on track and the threat of new supply is limited. Office-using payrolls will surpass pre-recession levels in the first half of this year, more than 12 months after overall employment breached the important threshold. Nonetheless, space demand began this year nearly 9 percent above the prior peak, and many firms are scouring the market for larger footprints. As office users expand or move to the metro to create synergies with the biotechnology industry, vacancy will dip below the pre-recession low by the end of 2015. Some of these companies will benefit from grants funded by the National Institutes of Health, which totaled nearly $1 billion in 2013. Supply-side headwinds are limited to a few speculative buildings. The largest speculative project is One La Jolla Centre, which began the year with insignificant pre-leasing activity. However, several firms are exploring options at the 300,000-square foot building. The office investment market also enters 2015 with positive momentum, though conditions are far off the heated pace during the most recent real estate boom. Buyers are slowly moving down the quality scale in anticipation of stronger leasing activity in the coming months. Class B assets with elevated vacancy that can be re-tenanted are climbing on investors’ wish lists this year. However, few of these deals are prevalent in the metro and out-of-market capital is beginning to become a larger factor in bidding. The strong office investment markets in nearby Orange and Los Angeles counties are the primary catalyst of capital migration, rather than overwhelming performance in the local office operations. Nonetheless, 2015 will likely be the last year buyers can find higher cap rates in a coastal California market; soon those opportunities will be relegated to landlocked states. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 8, Down 1 Place. San Diego holds onto a top 10 position in this year’s ranking. ■■ Employment Forecast: Payrolls will grow by 37,000 spots in 2015, representing a 2.7 percent gain and matching last year’s percent change. Office users will hire 14,400 additional workers, a 4.4 percent rise. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: Development will accelerate modestly to 910,000 square feet, including 550,000 square feet of speculative space. Last year, builders completed nearly 900,000 square feet. $280 $260 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: After a 200-basis point fall last year, vacancy will contract 120 basis points to 13 percent in 2015. $240 ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents for available space will increase 4.6 percent to $28.65 per square foot, building on last year’s 4.9 percent advance. $220 $200 2015 Rank: 8 Out-of-Market Investors Beginning to Bid Up San Diego Office Assets; Suburbs Provide Value Opportunities Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: The spread in cap rates between primary and secondary areas provides opportunities for investors with multiple return criteria. In the suburbs, first-year returns can reach 8 percent, while sought-after office districts have cap rates below 6 percent. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 54 Employment: 2.7% s Construction: 40K s Vacancy: 120 bps t Asking Rents: 4.6% s San Francisco No Change | 2015 Rank: 1 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 1 Salesforce Reshaping South of Market Area; Tech Firms Strengthen Their Hold in San Francisco ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will hire 33,400 additional workers this year, a 3 percent increase. Nearly half of those jobs, or 18,000 positions, will be added in office-using sectors. ■■ Construction Forecast: After 950,000 square feet of space came online in 2014, 3.5 million square feet will be finished this year. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Office vacancy will decline to 8.6 percent by year end, down 140 basis points from 2014. ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents for available space will jump 8.5 percent this year to $52.38 per square foot. Last year, rents advanced 10.3 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: Investors will need to stretch to acquire properties in San Francisco this year as buyer demand remains intense. Owners who purchased in 2009 may begin profit-taking. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 6.0 16% 4.5 14% 3.0 12% 1.5 10% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 8% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 1, No Change. Strong leasing activity on the peninsula and in the city keeps San Francisco atop this year’s Index. 8% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $56 18% $50 15% $44 12% $38 9% $32 11 12 13 14 15** 6% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change The attractiveness of San Francisco office properties extends to investors, who are aggressive when targeting assets. Prices have appreciated considerably during the past few years as owners attempt to expand their presence or establish a foothold in the market. As a result, cap rates in San Francisco County are among the lowest in the nation, which is keeping highly leveraged buyers from being competitive. Low spreads are also limiting the number of value-add plays in the metro, though investors willing to reposition dilapidated office/industrial space into creative footprints can achieve favorable returns. Most of these deals have been exhausted in the sought-after areas, so investors will seek opportunities on the fringes of trendy office markets. Sellers, on the other hand, have been reluctant to list assets while conditions are improving rapidly. As leases that were signed between 2009 and 2011 roll over into market-rate rents, owners may consider divesting at new, higher valuations. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate San Francisco’s office market is among the best in the country as high-tech firms continue to migrate into the city and establish a stronger presence in office districts traditionally dominated by other industries. A trend that started as a Mid-Market revolution with Twitter is showing few signs of slowing as technology companies now occupy significant space in the Financial District, South of Market, Mission and South Beach. Dropbox and Splunk, for instance, recently inked leases for buildings underway in South Beach on Brannan. The most significant news in the local office market, however, is Salesforce’s activity in the South of Market area. The cloud-computing firm recently committed to 710,000 square feet in the renamed Salesforce Tower. The company also occupies much of the nearby space, creating a large urban campus. Construction projects, meanwhile, are coming online across the metro. Pre-leasing is healthy, however, and supply additions will not impact operations until 2017. Employment Trends $400 $360 $320 $280 $240 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.1% s Construction: 2.5M s Vacancy: 140 bps t Asking Rents: 8.5% s Market Forecast page 55 San Jose National Office Property Index No Change Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 6.0 16% 4.5 14% 3.0 12% 1.5 10% 0 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 8% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $40 16% $36 12% $32 8% $28 4% $24 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 0% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 2 The pace of construction will hasten this year, though strong tenant demand from technology firms will maintain downward pressure on office vacancy. Much of the new space scheduled for delivery in 2015 is in a handful of office parks that broke ground as speculative construction. Leasing activity is running approximately six months ahead of completions, muffling the current pressure from new space. One of the largest office parks underway, Moffett Place in Sunnyvale, was recently leased entirely to Google; half of the 1.9 million square feet in the project will come online in the second quarter of this year. With this commitment and others, Google now has space for an additional 30,000 employees in the South Bay, solidifying the firm’s longterm commitment to the market. LinkedIn will also take down considerable space, adding nearly 350,000 square feet in Mountain View during the first quarter. Additionally, the company is seeking permission to develop 1 million square feet in North Bayshore in the coming years. The office investment market in San Jose is diverse and competitive as users, exchange buyers and institutions vie for the limited number of listings. As rents have skyrocketed, owners are awaiting lease rollovers prior to divesting assets. In fact, large blocks of vacant space can capture the highest prices as technology firms awash with capital expand their real estate holdings. Google, for example, is the most active buyer in Mountain View, amassing a huge real estate portfolio. Builders are also major players for older office assets that can be used to assemble sites for redevelopment. At the lower end of the market, investors anxious to gain a foothold in the metro are paying a premium for smaller buildings that meet the needs of startups or population-serving office users. These buyers will need to employ caution when considering rent increases for non-tech tenants that may not be able to pay top-end rates. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 2, No Change. San Jose holds onto the second position in the ranking as major tech firms ink huge leases for future growth. ■■ Employment Forecast: Office-using employment will jump 5.0 percent this year as 15,000 positions are added. Overall payrolls will expand by 28,500 spots, or 2.8 percent. Sales Trends ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers will complete 5.0 million square feet in 2015, up from 1.6 million square feet last year. $360 $330 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Office vacancy will decline 110 basis points to 9.5 percent, building on a 130-basis point fall in 2014. $300 ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will rise 7.7 percent in 2015 to $39.11 per square foot. Last year, a 10.1 percent jump was recorded. $270 $240 2015 Rank: 2 Tech Companies Expand Real Estate Holdings; Smaller Investors Target South and East Submarkets Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Cash-heavy investors will be the primary players in the heart of Silicon Valley, relegating smaller buyers to secondary submarkets. Marketwide cap rates were less than 7 percent at the start of 2015, though first-year returns in primary submarkets are closer to 5 percent. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 56 Employment: 2.8% s Construction: 3.4M s Vacancy: 110 bps t Asking Rents: 7.7% s Seattle-Tacoma Up 1 Place | 2015 Rank: 3 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 4 Investors Pour Capital Into Seattle, Saturating Puget Sound Office Market ■■ Employment Forecast: During 2015, employers will create 55,000 positions, a 3 percent gain, including 18,000 office-using jobs. ■■ Construction Forecast: Office completions will soar this year as builders deliver 3.8 million square feet of space, up from 560,000 square feet during 2014. Amazon will account for nearly half of the new inventory. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Vacancy will fall 60 basis points to 11.2 percent in 2015, on net absorption of nearly 4.4 million square feet. Last year’s vacancy dropped 150 basis points. ■■ Rent Forecast: Strong tenant demand and tightening vacancy will drive up asking rents 4.4 percent to $30.40 per square foot this year. In 2014, asking rents ticked up 3.6 percent. ■■ Investment Forecast: As prices rise, more owners will test the market, listing underperforming assets. Local buyers, however, still expect discounted prices. Year-over-Year Change 2% 1% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 6.0 16% 4.5 14% 3.0 12% 1.5 10% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 8% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 3, Up 1 Place. Low vacancy and robust payroll growth boosted Seattle-Tacoma one position in this year’s ranking. 3% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $32 6.0% $30 4.5% $28 3.0% $26 1.5% $24 11 12 13 14 15** 0% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change The sizzling local economy is attracting worldwide capital to office assets in Seattle. Improving operations and new inventory are gaining the attention of institutional investors, while some foreign buyers are seeking a safer haven from more volatile markets overseas. Top-tier properties close to the Seattle core and in Bellevue are especially sought after at cap rates that can dip below 5 percent. In the under $10 million bracket, more investors are seeking stabilized assets that offer steady cash flows. Properties near downtown, along major transit routes, or that have amenities to attract tech or startups are receiving significant investor attention. A shortage of these assets available for sale has generated intense competition among those that are listed, with some selling above asking price. Nonfarm 4% Vacancy Rate Robust hiring in Seattle-Tacoma will drive employment gains to the highest annual level in eight years. This bodes well for the local office market, as the office-using sector will account for nearly a third of these positions, many at tech companies. Competition among these firms to attract and retain staff has some companies putting a greater emphasis on workplace culture and environment. Office buildings that can offer amenities or tenant improvement packages to attract these businesses will do well. Competitive construction is on the rise with projects such as Dexter Station and the 929 Office Tower coming online this year. Although Amazon’s expansion is dominating office development with more than 1.7 million square feet underway in Seattle, accounting for nearly half of the metro’s new inventory this year. Amazon’s addition should not affect overall vacancy as the company is not expected to vacate any leased space. During 2015, increased tenant demand will drop marketwide vacancy to the lowest level in seven years, supporting a fifth annual rent gain. Employment Trends $300 $275 $250 $225 $200 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.0% s Construction: 3.3M s Vacancy: 60 bps t Asking Rents: 4.4% s Market Forecast page 57 St. Louis National Office Property Index Down 8 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 4% 3% 2% 1% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 2 16% 1 15% 0 14% -1 13% -2 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions 12% Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $18 2% $17 1% $16 0% $15 -1% $14 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent -2% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 28 Blossoming research and tech companies serving the healthcare sector will cultivate employment growth, boosting office operations in St. Louis. While larger expanding firms such as Boeing, SunEdison, Centene and Laclede Group have greater floorplate requirements, smaller companies are also looking to grow. Veering away from traditional offices, some local entrepreneurs are becoming creative and upgrading industrial buildings for their operations, remaining close to transportation hubs. However, this has not yet posed a threat to existing available office buildings as many companies still demand traditional space and amenities. As the office market warms up with new jobs, developers are planning mixeduse projects to meet the evolving demands for smaller footprints and open floor plans among office-using employers. Demand is highest in the southwestern section of the metro, where vacancy is on the cusp of falling to 10 percent this year. Employment hubs in the northwest along Highway 270, however have room to improve, with vacancies in the 15 to 16 percent range. A broad range of properties are maintaining performance in the metro, with scope for growth in the next few years. While institutional investors dominate ownership of large footprint office towers, buildings under 50,000 square feet are owned primarily by local entities or individuals. Many of these investors will exchange these assets to reposition into similar office properties that can be re-tenanted, supporting increased yields. Intense competition will ensue for larger office assets, as a number of local firms have the capital to meet institutional level bids. Retro, value-add properties in the western portion of the county near Creve Coeur are also a popular option. Buyers less active in the areas near Highway 40 and Olive Boulevard, south of Westport. Institutions seeking Class A product will look in Clayton, downtown St. Louis and pockets of Creve Coeur and Chesterfield. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 36, Down 8 Places. St. Louis retracted eight positions in the Index as office vacancy remains stubbornly elevated. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employers will generate 28,000 positions, including 12,000 office-using jobs. This represents a 2.1 percent advance and an acceleration from last year’s 1.7 percent growth to overall jobs. Sales Trends $120 ■■ Construction Forecast: Developers are slated to complete 100,000 square feet of office space this year, following 420,000 square feet. $110 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: The vacancy rate will ebb 20 points to 13.6 percent down from last year’s 40-basis point fall. $100 ■■ Rent Forecast: Asking rents will rise 1.2 percent to $18.05 per square foot, building on the 1.6 percent growth in 2014. $90 $80 2015 Rank: 36 Seeds for Growth Planted In St. Louis as Hiring Accelerates Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Investment Forecast: Though the current pace of sales has room to reach peak levels, employers are optimistic, creating demand for smaller spaces for startups and small businesses. Owners can optimize through re-tenanting and lease-up of assets. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 58 Employment: 2.1% s Construction: 320K t Vacancy: 20 bps t Asking Rents: 1.2% s Tampa-St. Petersburg Up 6 Places | 2015 Rank: 24 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 30 Tenants Expand Search Parameters for Tampa Bay Space As Steady Absorption Pulls Vacancies Lower ■■ Employment Forecast: Establishments in Tampa Bay will create 30,000 positions in 2015. A projected gain of 2,200 financial services jobs will lift employment in the sector above its pre-recession peak. ■■ Construction Forecast: A mere 90,000 square feet will be delivered in Hillsborough County as construction remains restrained metrowide. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: The vacancy rate will tumble 190 basis points to 13.5 percent, surpassing the 150-basis point plunge posted last year. ■■ Rent Forecast: After the average rent advanced 2.1 percent in 2014, operators will leverage reduced vacancy and limited construction to raise the metrowide level 3.0 percent to $20.31 per square foot. ■■ Investment Forecast: Low interest rates offer an opportunity for many property owners to refinance to monetize the recent increase in value and redeploy capital into other properties. Year-over-Year Change 3% 2% 1% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 4 20% 3 18% 2 16% 1 14% 0 11 12 13 14 15** 12% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 24, Up 6 Places. Vacancy will fall at the fastest pace in the nation, pulling Tampa-St. Petersburg up six spots in the Index. 4% 0% Y-O-Y Rent Change $22 4% $20 2% $18 0% $16 -2% $14 11 12 13 14 15** -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Year-over-Year Change The average price has risen steadily during the economic recovery, while cap rates average in the high-7 to low-8 percent range in recent deals. Momentum is building in the transaction market, with dollar volume and velocity rising last year, led by an increasingly active contingent of buyers in the $1 million to $10 million price tranche. Interest in performing assets in primary submarkets, including Westshore, Tampa, St. Petersburg and high-demand suburban communities such as Brandon, will persist in 2015. Supply of available properties will fall short of demand, however, and assets in secondary and tertiary suburban locations have yet to spark much interest. Suburban office assets with significant vacancy, for example, will likely need to offer yields higher than the current marketwide range to attract investor interest. Nonfarm Vacancy Rate Growing payrolls in office-using employment sectors and an ongoing slump in office development will drive tenants to expand their searches throughout Tampa Bay this year, enabling property owners to backfill vacancies and firm rents. Over the past four years, a disproportionate share of demand growth occurred in a few primary submarkets, including Westshore, and the Tampa and St. Petersburg CBDs. Other areas have lagged but appear positioned for stronger results in 2015 as tenants expand and additional office-using startup businesses materialize. Supply pressures are minimal, with restrained completions and a portion of the roughly 8 million square feet planned for the metro at least a year away. The projects with the greatest chances of proceeding to groundbreaking, though, are in downtown Tampa and St. Petersburg and in East Hillsborough County. Multifamily development is booming in these areas, and prospective office tenants will strongly consider layouts near growing housing stock and a large concentration of prospective workers. Employment Trends $180 $155 $130 $105 $80 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 2.5% s Construction: 20K t Vacancy: 190 bps t Asking Rents: 3.0% s Market Forecast page 59 Washington, D.C. National Office Property Index Down 2 Places Year-over-Year Change Office-Using 2% 1% 0% -1% -2% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Absorption Vacancy 8 22% 4 20% 0 18% -4 16% -8 14% 11 12 13 14 15** Vacancy Rate Square Feet (millions) Completions Rent Trends Y-O-Y Rent Change $38 2% $36 1% $34 0% $32 -1% $30 11 12 13 14 15** -2% Average Price per Square Foot | 2014 Rank: 24 Developers will continue to build in 2015, despite the market recording one of the highest vacancy rates in the nation. More than 20 percent of the metro’s office stock will sit empty this year. Operations in the District will fair slightly better, with vacancy approximately 500 basis points below Suburban Maryland and Suburban Virginia. Several factors are contributing to the escalated rate, including speculative development and lackluster employment growth. Federal cutbacks over the past few years have tightened public service staffing and federal contractor employment, reducing demand for space. Soft demand-side pressure alongside a wave of completions resulted in three years of negative net absorption that pushed the vacancy rate up 340 basis points. Looking forward, employment will moderately rise this year, regaining all office-using jobs lost during the 2013 sequester. While companies add to headcounts and outgrow their existing facilities, they will expand into larger offices. Additional space demand, however, will lag new supply. Deliveries in 2015 will fall below the five-year annual average, though unleased inventory will increase competition for existing properties, moderately lifting vacancy. Investors remain optimistic in the Washington, D.C., office market, though rising property values have pressured some buyers out of the core and into secondary locations. Well-capitalized private investors and owner-users will target properties priced between $3 million to $10 million. Stabilized offices located in densely populated communities in Suburban Virginia such as Fairfax County, particularly the Dulles Corridor, as well as the I-270 Corridor in Suburban Maryland will garner the strongest interest. First-year returns in these areas vary significantly, depending on quality and lease terms, averaging in the low-7 to mid-8 percent area. Meanwhile, institutions will remain focused inside the Capital Beltway where cap rates are in the low-5 percent range. 2015 Market Outlook ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 26, Down 2 Places. Falling deficits will keep government contractors from expanding, dragging down the metro two spots. ■■ Employment Forecast: Employment will expand 1.6 percent in 2015 with the addition of 48,500 workers. This includes 14,500 new employees in the traditional office-using sector. Sales Trends $340 ■■ Construction Forecast: After developers completed nearly 4.1 million square feet last year, 1.6 million square feet is scheduled for delivery in 2015, a 0.4 percent increase to stock. $320 ■■ Vacancy Forecast: New supply will contribute to a 20-basis point rise in vacancy to 19.9 percent this year. Vacancy climbed 110 basis points one year earlier. $300 $280 $260 Year-over-Year Change Asking Rent per Square Foot Asking Rent 2015 Rank: 26 Speculative Development Amid Lackluster Employment Lifts Vacancies Employment Trends Nonfarm | 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics ■■ Rent Forecast: In 2015, average rents will edge up 0.1 percent to $35.40 per square foot, following a 0.6 percent loss last year. ■■ Investment Forecast: High vacancy in the D.C. market presents value-add opportunities for yield-driven and opportunistic investors who have a tenant in line. * Estimate** Forecast Market Forecast page 60 Employment: 1.6% s Construction: 3.1M t Vacancy: 20 bps s Asking Rents: 0.1% s West Palm Beach Up 7 Places | 2015 Rank: 28 | National Office Property Index 2014 Rank: 35 Office Sector Gaining Traction, Setting Table for More Deals in 2015 ■■ Employment Forecast: An aging population will support an increase of 5,900 education and health services positions in 2015 and generate additional medical office space demand. Overall, employment in the county will increase 3.1 percent, or by 17,500 jobs, during the year. ■■ Construction Forecast: Buildings comprising a total of 52,000 square feet will come online, a drop from 209,000 square feet last year. ■■ Vacancy Forecast: Minimal construction will help slash the vacancy rate 160 basis points to 16.9 percent. ■■ Rent Forecast: The average rent in the county will advance 3.5 percent to $27.22 per square foot in 2015. Last year’s decrease in vacancy supported a 2.3 percent increase. ■■ Investment Forecast: Widening availability of debt will support a greater number of transactions in 2015 and enable refinancings to free capital for additional acquisitions. Year-over-Year Change 6% 4% 2% 0% 11 12 13 14* 15** Office Supply and Demand Square Feet (millions) Completions Absorption Vacancy 2 24% 1 21% 0 18% -1 15% -2 11 12 13 14 15** 12% Rent Trends Asking Rent Asking Rent per Square Foot ■■ 2015 NOPI Rank: 28, Up 7 Places. Strong employment growth and a significant decrease in the vacancy rate propelled West Palm Beach’s seven-spot jump in the NOPI. 8% Y-O-Y Rent Change $28 4% $27 2% $26 0% $25 -2% $24 11 12 13 14 15** Year-over-Year Change 2015 Market Outlook Office-Using Vacancy Rate Transaction velocity and dollar volume are rising, expanding liquidity in the market. Recent gains in occupancy and rents are enabling many property owners to list properties for sale and enhancing the probability that price objectives can be attained. Among the buyer pools, institutions were net acquirers in 2014, deploying capital into top-end, well-performing assets. The county will remain a venue for select, one-off purchases by institutions this year, and assets in downtown West Palm Beach and Boca Raton will elicit special interest. Vacancy continues to fall in Boca Raton and a meager planning pipeline of 125,000 square feet will not impose an obstacle to maintaining occupancy and achieving NOI and return goals. Small private investors, meanwhile, will figure prominently in deals involving smaller Class B buildings in 2015. Cap rates in this segment start in the mid-8 percent range. Nonfarm -4% Sales Trends Average Price per Square Foot Consistent job growth and a resumption of favorable demographic trends are converging to provide momentum in the Palm Beach County office market. Payrolls will finally surpass their pre-recession high during the year, triggering new space needs and a plunge in vacancy. The professional and business services sector has already exceeded its former peak, while financial services staffing is rising steadily. With demand strengthening and the amount of occupied sublease space marketed for lease back at pre-recession levels, rents will grow substantially this year. In addition to the growing population of office workers, improved housing affordability, expanded options for renters and strengthening job prospects are sparking a resurgence in relocations from outside the county. New arrivals will require services such as medical care, and rising demand may initiate expansions by medical practices and spur greater absorption of medical office space. Employment Trends $220 $205 $190 $175 $160 10 11 12 13 14* Sources: CoStar Group, Inc., Real Capital Analytics * Estimate ** Forecast Employment: 3.1% s Construction: 157K t Vacancy: 160 bps t Asking Rents: 3.5% s Market Forecast page 61 Office Locations Office Locations United States Corporate Headquarters Marcus & Millichap 23975 Park Sorrento Suite 400 Calabasas, CA 91302 (818) 212-2250 www.MarcusMillichap.com Atlanta 500 Northpark Town Center 1100 Abernathy Road, N.E. Building 500, Suite 600 Atlanta, GA 30328 (678) 808-2700 Michael J. Fasano Austin 8310-2 N. Capital of Texas Highway Suite 110 Austin, TX 78731 (512) 338-7800 Craig R. Swanson Bakersfield 4900 California Avenue Tower B, 2nd Floor Bakersfield, CA 93309 (661) 377-1878 Adam Christofferson Birmingham The Landmark Center 2100 First Avenue North Suite 600 Birmingham, AL 35203 (205) 747-3722 Jody McKibben Boise 950 W. Bannock Street Suite 1100 Boise, ID 83702 (208) 319-3549 Tim Rios Boston 100 High Street Suite 1025 Boston, MA 02110 (617) 896-7200 Gary R. Lucas Brooklyn 16 Court Street Floor 2A Brooklyn, NY 11241 (718) 475-4300 John Horowitz Charleston 145 King Street Suite 407 Charleston, SC 29401 (843) 952-2222 Raj Ravi page 62 Charlotte 405 Eagle Bend Drive Waxhaw, NC 28173 (704) 443-0600 Gary R. Lucas Charlotte Uptown 525 N. Tryon Street Suite 1600 Charlotte, NC 28202 (704) 831-4600 Raj Ravi Chicago Downtown 333 W. Wacker Drive Suite 200 Chicago, IL 60606 (312) 327-5400 John Przybyla Chicago Oak Brook One Mid America Plaza Suite 200 Oakbrook Terrace, IL 60181 (630) 570-2200 Steven Weinstock Chicago O’Hare 8750 W. Bryn Mawr Avenue Suite 650 Chicago, IL 60631 (773) 867-1500 Steve Rachman Cincinnati 600 Vine Street 10th Floor Cincinnati, OH 45202 (513) 878-7700 Michael L. Glass Cleveland 5005 Rockside Road Suite 1100 Independence, OH 44131 (216) 264-2000 Michael L. Glass Columbia 1320 Main Street Suite 300 Columbia, SC 29201 (803) 678-4900 Raj Ravi Columbus 230 West Street Suite 100 Columbus, OH 43215 (614) 360-9800 Michael L. Glass Corpus Christi 15217 S. Padre Island Drive Suite 203 Corpus Christi, TX 78418 (361) 949-3300 J. Michael Watson Dallas 5001 Spring Valley Road Suite 100W Dallas, TX 75244 (972) 755-5200 Tim Speck Iowa 425 Second Street S.E. Suite 610 Cedar Rapids, IA 52401 (319) 333-7743 Tim Rios Denver 1225 17th Street Suite 1800 Denver, CO 80202 (303) 328-2000 Richard A. Bird Jacksonville 5220 Belfort Road Suite 120 Jacksonville, FL 32256 (904) 672-1400 Kirk A. Felici Detroit Two Towne Square Suite 450 Southfield, MI 48076 (248) 415-2600 Steven Chaben Kansas City 7400 College Boulevard Suite 105 Overland Park, KS 66210 (816) 410-1010 Matthew Fitzgerald Encino First Financial Plaza 16830 Ventura Boulevard Suite 100 Encino, CA 91436 (818) 212-2700 Adam Christofferson Lafayette 1812 W. Pinhook Road Suite 202 Lafayette, LA 70508 (337) 231-5174 David H. Luther Fort Lauderdale 5900 N. Andrews Avenue Suite 100 Fort Lauderdale, FL 33309 (954) 245-3400 Ryan Nee Fort Worth 300 Throckmorton Street Suite 1500 Fort Worth, TX 76102 (817) 932-6100 David H. Luther Fresno 8050 N. Palm Avenue Suite 300 Fresno, CA 93711 (559) 389-5891 Adam Christofferson Greensboro 324 S. Elm Street Suite 300 Greensboro, NC 27401 (336) 450-4600 Raj Ravi Houston 3 Riverway Suite 800 Houston, TX 77056 (713) 452-4200 David Luther Indianapolis 600 E. 96th Street Suite 500 Indianapolis, IN 46240 (317) 218-5300 Josh Caruana Las Vegas 3800 Howard Hughes Parkway Suite 1550 Las Vegas, NV 89169 (702) 215-7100 John Vorsheck Little Rock 5507 Ranch Drive Suite 201 Little Rock, AR 72223 (501) 228-9600 Matthew Fitzgerald Long Beach One World Trade Center Suite 2100 Long Beach, CA 90831 (562) 257-1200 Matthew J. Kipp Los Angeles 515 S. Flower Street Suite 500 Los Angeles, CA 90071 (213) 943-1800 Enrique Wong Louisville 9300 Shelbyville Road Suite 1012 Louisville, KY 40222 (502) 329-5900 Matthew Fitzgerald Manhattan 270 Madison Avenue 7th Floor New York, NY 10016 (212) 430-5100 J.D. Parker Office Locations Memphis 5100 Poplar Avenue Suite 2505 Memphis, TN 38137 (901) 620-3600 Jody McKibben Oakland 555 12th Street Suite 1750 Oakland, CA 94607 (510) 379-1200 Jeffrey M. Mishkin Reno 241 Ridge Street Suite 200 Reno, NV 89501 (775) 348-5200 Ryan DeMar Tucson 4031 E. Sunrise Drive Suite 151 Tucson, AZ 85718 (520) 202-2900 Steven Chaben Miami 5201 Blue Lagoon Drive Suite 100 Miami, FL 33126 (786) 522-7000 Kirk A. Felici Oklahoma City 9120 N. Kelley Avenue Suite 100 Oklahoma City, OK 73131 (405) 254-2200 J. Michael Watson Sacramento 3741 Douglas Boulevard Suite 200 Roseville, CA 95661 (916) 724-1400 Ryan DeMar Tulsa 7633 East 63rd Place Suite 300 Tulsa, OK 74133 (918) 294-6300 J. Michael Watson Milwaukee 13890 Bishops Drive Suite 300 Brookfield, WI 53005 (262) 364-1900 Matthew Fitzgerald Ontario One Lakeshore Center 3281 E. Guasti Road Suite 800 Ontario, CA 91761 (909) 456-3400 Kevin Boeve Salt Lake City 36 South State Street Suite 2650 Salt Lake City, UT 84111 (801) 736-2600 Gary K. Mangum Ventura 1000 Town Center Drive Suite 300 Oxnard, CA 93036 (805) 351-8796 Adam Christofferson San Antonio 8200 IH-10W Suite 603 San Antonio, TX 78230 (210) 343-7800 J. Michael Watson Washington, D.C. 7200 Wisconsin Avenue Suite 1101 Bethesda, MD 20814 (202) 536-3700 Bryn Merrey Palo Alto 2626 Hanover Street Palo Alto, CA 94304 (650) 391-1700 Steven J. Seligman San Diego 9255 Towne Centre Drive Suite 700 San Diego, CA 92121 (858) 373-3100 John Vorsheck West Los Angeles 12100 W. Olympic Boulevard Suite 350 Los Angeles, CA 90064 (310) 909-5500 Tony Solomon Philadelphia 101 W. Elm Street Suite 600 Conshohocken, PA 19428 (215) 531-7000 Bryn Merrey San Francisco 750 Battery Street 5th Floor San Francisco, CA 94111 (415) 963-3000 Jeffrey M. Mishkin Westchester 50 Main Street Suite 925 White Plains, NY 10606 (914) 220-9730 J.D. Parker Phoenix 2398 E. Camelback Road Suite 550 Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602) 687-6700 Don Morrow Seattle Two Union Square 601 Union Street Suite 2710 Seattle, WA 98101 (206) 826-5700 Joel Deis Minneapolis 1350 Lagoon Avenue Suite 840 Minneapolis, MN 55408 (952) 852-9700 Craig Patterson Mobile Pelican Square 101 Lottie Lane Suit 3 Fairhope, AL 36532 (251) 929-7300 Jody McKibben Nashville 6 Cadillac Drive Suite 100 Brentwood, TN 37027 (615) 997-2900 Jody McKibben New Haven 265 Church Street Suite 210 New Haven, CT 06510 (203) 672-3300 J.D. Parker New Jersey River Drive Center 3 611 River Drive 4th Floor Elmwood Park, NJ 07407 (201) 582-1000 Brian Hosey New Mexico 6565 Americas Parkway NE Suite 204 Albuquerque, NM 87110 (505) 563-5791 J. Michael Watson Newport Beach 19800 MacArthur Boulevard Suite 150 Irvine, CA 92612 (949) 419-3200 Robert Osbrink Orlando 300 South Orange Avenue Suite 700 Orlando, FL 32801 (407) 557-3800 Kirk A. Felici Pittsburgh 204 Fifth Avenue Suite 502 Pittsburgh, PA 15222 (412) 360-7777 Michael L.Glass Portland 111 S.W. Fifth Avenue Suite 1550 Portland, OR 97204 (503) 200-2000 Adam Lewis Raleigh 101 J Morris Commons Lane Suite 130 Morrisville, NC 27560 (919) 388-1278 Raj Ravi St. Louis 7800 Forsyth Boulevard Suite 710 St. Louis, MO 63105 (314) 889-2500 Matthew Fitzgerald Tampa 4030 W. Boy Scout Boulevard Suite 850 Tampa, FL 33607 (813) 387-4700 Richard Matricaria The Woodlands 2441 High Timbers Suite 130 The Woodlands, TX 77380 (832) 442-2800 David H. Luther Office Locations - Canada Calgary 5920 Macleod Trail SW Suite 201 Calgary, AB T2H 0K2 (587) 349-1302 Gary R. Lucas Toronto 20 Queen Street W Suite 2300 Toronto, ON M5H 3R3 (416) 585-4646 Daniel B. Holmes Vancouver 400 Burrard Street Suite 1020 Vancouver, BC V6C 3A6 (604) 675-5200 Chris Anderson page 63 2015 National Office Report National Office and Industrial Properties Group Senior Management Team Alan L. Pontius, Senior Vice President, National Director (415) 963-3000 | [email protected] John J. Kerin, President and Chief Executive Officer (818) 212-2700 | [email protected] Rick Lechtman, Vice President, Eastern Director (212) 430-5100 | [email protected] Gary Willard, Vice President, Western Director (650) 391-1700 | [email protected] National Research Team John Chang, First Vice President, Research Services James Reeves, National Production Manager Peter Tindall, Research Operations Manager Tamarah Calderon, Research Administrator Maria Erofeeva, Graphic Designer Michael Farr, Research Associate Marette Flora, Copy Editor Art Gering, Senior Analyst Jessica Glick, Research Associate Steve Hovland, Senior Analyst Rafael Hwang, Data Analyst Peng Jia, Research Associate Charles LeSueur, Research Associate Erica Linn, Senior Analyst Mridul Nanda, Research Associate Kyle Newhall-Caballero, Research Coordinator Nancy Olmsted, Market Research Analyst Troy Roffi, Research Associate Rudé Van Eck, Research Marketing Coordinator Communications/Graphic Design Michelle Cocagne, Senior Vice President, Communications Contact: Gene A. Berman, Executive Vice President (954) 245-3400 | [email protected] Hessam Nadji, Senior Vice President, Chief Strategy Officer (925) 953-1700 | [email protected] William E. Hughes, Senior Vice President Marcus & Millichap Capital Corporation (949) 419-3200 | [email protected] Martin E. Louie, Senior Vice President, Chief Financial Officer (818) 212-2250 | [email protected] Gary R. Lucas, Senior Vice President (415) 963-3000 | [email protected] Paul S. Mudrich, Senior Vice President, Chief Legal Officer (650) 391-1700 | [email protected] Steven R. Chaben, Senior Vice President (248) 415-2600 | [email protected]\ Kent R. Williams, Senior Vice President (858) 373-3100 | [email protected] Media Contact: Gina Relva Public Relations Manager 2999 Oak Road, Suite 210 Walnut Creek, CA 94597 (925) 953-1716 [email protected] John Chang First Vice President, Research Services 2398 E. Camelback Road, Suite 550 Phoenix, Arizona 85016 (602) 687-6700 [email protected] National Office Property Index Note: Employment and office data forecasts for 2015 are based on the most up-to-date information available as of December 2014 and are subject to change. Statistical Summary Note: Metro-level employment, vacancy and annual asking rents are year-end figures and are based on the most up-to-date information available as of December 2014 and January 2015. Average prices and cap rates are a function of the age, class and geographic area of the properties trading and therefore may not be representative of the market as a whole. Forecasts for employment and office data are made during the fourth quarter and represent estimates of future performance. No representation, warranty or guarantee, express or implied may be made as to the accuracy or reliability of the information contained herein. Sources: Marcus & Millichap Research Services, American Council of Life Insurers, Blue Chip Economic Indicators, Bureau of Economic Analysis, Commercial Mortgage Alert, CoStar Group Inc., Economy.com, Federal Reserve, Freddie Mac, Foresight Analytics, Mortgage Bankers Association, Real Capital Analytics, Real Estate Center at Texas A&M University, Standard & Poor’s, The Conference Board, Trepp, TWR/Dodge Pipeline, U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, U.S. Census Bureau, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, U.S. Treasury Department. © Marcus & Millichap 2015 page 64 2015 NATIONAL OFFICE REPORT Real Estate Investment Research Research Services 2398 E. Camelback Road | Suite 550 | Phoenix, AZ 85016 (602) 687-6700 www.MarcusMillichap.com