Oct
22

San Francisco Industrial Market – Q3 Overview

Source: Costar.com

The San Francisco Industrial market ended the third quarter 2014 with a vacancy rate of 4.5%. The vacancy rate was up over the previous quarter, with net absorption totaling negative (82,427) square feet in the third quarter. Vacant sublease space decreased in the quarter, ending the quarter at 305,115 square feet. Rental rates ended the third quarter at $15.29, an increase over the previous quarter. There were no properties under construction at the end of the quarter.

Absorption
Net absorption for the overall San Francisco Industrial market was negative (82,427) square feet in the third quarter
2014. That compares to positive 957,648 square feet in the second quarter 2014, positive 88,854 square feet in the first quarter 2014, and positive 493,540 square feet in the fourth quarter 2013.

Tenants moving out of large blocks of space in 2014 include: FedEx moving out of (60,100) square feet at 200
Littlefield Ave, Vitasoy moving out of (52,500) square feet at
584 Eccles Ave, and KaloBios Pharmaceuticals moving out of
(49,351) square feet at 260 E Grand Ave.

Tenants moving into large blocks of space in 2014 include: Formations Brands moving into 120,000 square feet at 530
Forbes Blvd, LeeMah Properties, Inc. moving into 87,000 square feet at 155 S Hill Dr, and Stitch Fix moving into 80,000 square feet at 245 S Spruce Ave.

The Flex building market recorded net absorption of posi- tive 36,585 square feet in the third quarter 2014, compared to positive 299,408 square feet in the second quarter 2014, negative (50,744) in the first quarter 2014, and positive 73,956 in the fourth quarter 2013.
The Warehouse building market recorded net absorption of negative (119,012) square feet in the third quarter 2014 com- pared to positive 658,240 square feet in the second quarter 2014, positive 139,598 in the first quarter 2014, and positive 419,584 in the fourth quarter 2013.

Vacancy
The Industrial vacancy rate in the San Francisco market arean increased to 4.5% at the end of the third quarter 2014. The vacancy rate was 4.4% at the end of the second quarter 2014, 6.0% at the end of the first quarter 2014, and 6.1% at the end of the fourth quarter 2013.

Flex projects reported a vacancy rate of 5.9% at the end of the third quarter 2014, 6.1% at the end of the second quarter
2014, 9.3% at the end of the first quarter 2014, and 9.1% at the end of the fourth quarter 2013.

Warehouse projects reported a vacancy rate of 4.0% at the end of the third quarter 2014, 3.9% at the end of second quarter 2014, 4.8% at the end of the first quarter 2014, and 5.1% at the end of the fourth quarter 2013.

Rental Rates
The average quoted asking rental rate for available Industrial space was $15.29 per square foot per year at the end of the third quarter 2014 in the San Francisco market area. This represented a 2.1% increase in quoted rental rates from the end of the second quarter 2014, when rents were reported at $14.97 per square foot.

The average quoted rate within the Flex sector was $24.66 per square foot at the end of the third quarter 2014, while Warehouse rates stood at $11.64. At the end of the sec- ond quarter 2014, Flex rates were $23.85 per square foot, and Warehouse rates were $11.26.

Inventory
Total Industrial inventory in the San Francisco market area amounted to 95,118,337 square feet in 4,848 buildings as of the end of the third quarter 2014. The Flex sector consisted of 23,921,073 square feet in 790 projects. The Warehouse sector consisted of 71,197,264 square feet in 4,058 buildings. Within the Industrial market there were 511 owner-occupied buildings accounting for 12,334,611 square feet of Industrial space.

Sales Activity
Tallying industrial building sales of 15,000 square feet or larger, San Francisco industrial sales figures fell during the second quarter 2014 in terms of dollar volume compared to the first quarter of 2014.

In the second quarter, 20 industrial transactions closed with a total volume of $109,016,000. The 20 buildings totaled 558,793 square feet and the average price per square foot equated to $195.09 per square foot. That compares to seven transactions totaling $153,598,100 in the first quarter. The total square footage was 667,191 for an average price per square foot of $230.22.

Total year-to-date industrial building sales activity in 2014 is up compared to the previous year. In the first six months of 2014, the market saw 27 industrial sales transactions with a total volume of $262,614,100. The price per square foot has averaged $214.21 this year. In the first six months of 2013, the market posted 14 transactions with a total volume of $86,969,600. The price per square foot averaged $168.65.

Cap rates have been higher in 2014, averaging 6.70%, compared to the first six months of last year when they averaged 6.04%. One of the largest transactions that occurred within the last four quarters in the San Francisco market is the sale of 268-298 Alabama St in San Francisco. Totaling 34,545 square feet, the two industrial buildings sold for $20,000,000, or $578.95 per square foot. The property sold on 5/22/2014 and will be occupied by the buyer, Dandelion Chocolate.