Industrial Vacancies at 14.6% and Growing

ATLANTA-The good news is that the metro area may be creating 40,000 new jobs this year in the industrial real estate sector. The bad news is that business owners aren’t expected to search for additional space until 2004.

That’s the prognosis from locally based Bullock Mannelly Partners Inc. in its mid-year report. Overall industrial vacancies are at 14.6%, up from 13.9% in 2002. The warehouse category is faring the worst with vacancies of 14.8%.

“Despite increases in vacancy rates, the belief that warehouse markets will lead the upcoming real estate recovery has kept many investors looking for opportunities in this property sector,” says Michael A. Crawford, research director at Bullock Mannelly.