The CFI Team

Less Building Now, Higher Office Rents Later

cfiteam — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 14:39:16 +0000

Office-building construction is in the midst of a severe drought. This means higher rents may be on the horizon in some cities, if history is any guide.

In the U.S. last year, developers broke ground on office buildings with a total of just 56 million square feet of space, the lowest level tracked by McGraw-Hill Construction since at least 1960.

Even during the early 1990s, in the aftermath of a surge of construction a decade earlier that left cities around the country dotted with empty office buildings, the U.S. never dropped below 80 million square feet of new office-building construction a year, according to McGraw-Hill. And analysts don’t expect construction to pick up anytime soon.

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Business-tax breaks exceeding $125 million clears key committee

cfiteam — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:41:00 +0000

TALLAHASSEE An influential state House committee unveiled plans Wednesday for more than $125 million a year worth of new business-tax breaks, ranging from broad cuts sought by Republican Gov. Rick Scott to narrower ones for everyone from manufacturers to private-airplane owners and oil-drilling concerns.

The assortment of breaks easily cleared the Republican-controlled House Finance and Tax Committee with only minimal opposition from some Democratic lawmakers and lobbyists for cities and counties.

The centerpiece is a multipronged “economic development” package (PCB 12-07) that includes two of Scott’s top legislative priorities this spring.

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Back in Business: CRE Sales Volumes Make Strong Comeback

cfiteam — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:37:27 +0000

The dollar volume of commercial real estate sales vaulted back to longterm historical levels in 2011. CoStar Group has confirmed $291.6 billion in CRE sales in 2011, a 32% increase over the sales volume in 2010.

Last year’s volume bested the 12-year average volume of $254.2 billion. However, the 2011 dollar volume is still overshadowed by credit-bubble level of $560.5 billion in 2007.

Sales of office property led all other types in dollar volume totaling almost $74 billion. That volume was 39% higher than 2010, but it was only one-third the volume of office sales in 2007

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Cities where jobs will (and won’t) be in 2012

cfiteam — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 13:01:12 +0000

Though Florida was hard hit by the 2008 subprime mortgage crisis, and unemployment in the state sits 1.5 percent above the national average at 10.1 percent, in the first quarter of 2012, employers in two of Florida’s metropolitan areas are planning to increase their workforces at a rate that outpaces every other metro area in the country, according to employment services firm Manpower Group’s latest employment outlook survey, released earlier this month. In Cape Coral-Fort Myers, and in Lakeland-Winter Haven, a net 17 percent of employers plan to add employees in the first quarter of next year. Two other Florida metro areas, Bradenton-Sarasota-Venice and Tampa-St. Petersburg-Clearwater, make it into Manpower’s top 15, both with a 12 percent net hiring outlook

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4 signs that Florida’s economy should improve in 2012

cfiteam — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 13:59:02 +0000

The Sunshine State’s economy should further rebound in 2012, with South Florida outperforming what turned out to be a disappointing 2011, several indicators show.

“We see the momentum,” said Tony Villamil, principal economic advisor to the Washington Economics Group and dean of the St. Thomas University School of Business.

“Incomes and population growth will be up [in 2012] and unemployment is slowing declining,” added Sean Snaith, director of the University of Central Florida’s Institute for Economic Competitiveness.”

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LIBERTY PROPERTY TRUST TO BUILD $135 MILLION INDUSTRIAL PARK

cfiteam — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 14:53:01 +0000

MIAMI —Liberty Property Trust (NYSE: LRY) has plans to develop the 1.6 million-square-foot Miami International Tradeport, a $135 million industrial park located on Florida’s Turnpike, south of Okeechobee Road in Miami. Coconut Creek, Fla.-based Butters Construction & Development has been selected to oversee construction of the park.

“We feel there is a tremendous opportunity for well-designed and located industrial product in Miami-Dade County, and we are excited to begin development and to grow our footprint in South Florida,” said Andy Petry, vice president and city manager for Malvern, Pa.-based Liberty.

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Top 5: Largest Property Management Cos.

cfiteam — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 15:01:06 +0000

Of the more than 65.5 million square feet of properties managed by the companies on this week’s OBJ largest property management companies, there are more than 19.5 million square feet of industrial, 9.7 million of residential and 754 properties.

To see the entire list of the Top 25 largest property management companies in Central Florida, see our Dec. 2 print edition.

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UF survey: Florida real estate market slips once again

cfiteam — Thu, 08 Dec 2011 14:54:56 +0000

GAINESVILLE, Fla. — Florida real estate experts and investors were pessimistic for a second consecutive quarter, despite encouraging signs in the rise of occupancy rates and prices in the rental apartment market, a new University of Florida survey finds.

The Survey of Emerging Market Conditions, conducted quarterly by the Kelley A. Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies at UF’s Warrington College of Business Administration, indicates the main reason for the third-quarter malaise was the falling market for single-family houses, condominiums and most types of land.

Uncertainty over unsettling economic news at the international, national and state levels provides the backdrop for the declining perspective, said Timothy S. Becker, director of the Bergstrom Center. The Commercial Real Estate Sentiment Index declined in the third quarter marking the second consecutive decline of the year.

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UF survey: Florida real estate market slips once again

cfiteam — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 19:33:17 +0000

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Southeast Sees Industrial Markets Stabilize

cfiteam — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:52:44 +0000

Industrial Brokers across the Southeast feel much better than they did this time last year, and the statistics are showing why.

We surveyed 10 of Colliers International’s Southeast Offices about the state of the industrial market. Everyone has shown decreasing vacancy, positive absorption and an increase in activity.

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