Tampa Commercial Real Estate Getting Vibrant Again

Published by nora | Filed under Buyer / Seller Tips, Market Trends, Miscellaneous, Real Estate

More vacant Tampa commercial real estate properties are getting occupied. This is a good sign.

According to Cushman and Wakefield, a global commercial real estate consulting firm founded in 1917, the industrial real estate  market in the Tampa Bay area is showing improvements because of positive employment growth rates since October last year.

The overall vacancy rate in the industrial market in the Tampa area decreased to 9 percent in the first quarter of 2011. Although the decrease from the previous quarter was only 4/10 of a percentage point and the drop year-over-year was only 2/10 of a percentage point, they were decreases, nevertheless. Any activity improvement in a sluggish sector is a positive sign.

The improvement in industrial occupancy arose from the increase in jobs. As more people are hired, more square meters of work space are needed. For the period January to March, the Tampa Bay metro area added nearly 5,000 jobs, cutting the area’s unemployment rate by 1.2 percentage points to 11 percent. The manufacturing sector provided 800 new jobs over the same period.

In South Florida, according to real estate information provider CoStar, the office market vacancy rate also dropped in the first quarter to 14.5 percent compared to the previous quarter. Although there were three new buildings totaling 168,475 square feet of office space that were added to the area’s office real estate inventory, the final vacant space total still showed a net decrease. The first quarter ended with an inventory of 1,135,653 square feet of office space, rented out at an average rate of $26.88 per square foot.

The Tampa area and other cities in Florida continue to attract inquiries for business relocation. In the 2011 survey of more than 500 CEOs about the best U.S. states for business, Florida emerged as the third best state.

They gave a high rating to Florida because of the state’s business-friendly policies and conditions, such as:

• Lower corporate income tax rates
• No state personal income tax
• High quality of available workforce
• Increase in inward migration
• High quality of life
• Access to schools and hospitals
• Access to transportation

Businesses that are looking for quality and affordable commercial real estate properties can also find them in Florida. Because of the significant real estate meltdown that the state suffered during the recession, there are now a lot of distressed commercial buildings that are offered at huge discounts.

Check out these discounted Tampa commercial real estate properties with help from Tampa4U.com professionals.