Industrial property vacancies are still rising

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Average vacancy in the country’s warehouses, factories and other industrial properties reached 10.5% in the third quarter, the highest this decade, led in part by wide open spaces in the Inland Empire.

It was the eighth consecutive quarter of rising industrial vacancy, according to real estate brokerage Colliers International. The net loss of rented space was most pronounced in the Los Angeles Basin, Chicago and San Jose/Silicon Valley markets.

Vacancy in the Inland Empire reached 15.4%, up from 11.9% a year earlier. The best news that Colliers could glean from the statistics was that the rate at which vacancies are rising slowed down in the third quarter.

‘Although a few bright spots are evident, including a pickup in leasing activity and an easing of absorption losses quarter over quarter, we predict ‘more of the same’ for the industrial space market well into 2010,’ Ross Moore, director of research for Colliers, said in a statement. ‘From our vantage point, warehouse tenants will sit tight and make do with their current space -- avoiding expansion and new lease signings -- until more signs of a sustainable recovery are evident.’

-- Roger Vincent