Industrial Leasing Picks Up as Vacancies Shrink

ORLANDO-It isn’t a bell ringer yet, but leasing activity has picked up in metro Orlando’s 79.9-million-sf industrial real estate market, according to a new 1Q analysis by the Orlando office of Advantis Real Estate Services Co./GVA.

For example, seven out of 10 submarkets monitored show positive net absorption in the 1Q after being negative at the end of 2002. “That number is now down to one, and that is largely the result of a vacant, newly delivered building,” says Advantis research director Lisa M. DeVore.

The overall vacancy factor is 9.2 %, down 1.1% from 10.3% in 4Q 2002. Vacant space totals 6.3 million sf. The average asking rent is $5.20 per sf.