CINCINNATI—This metro area has experienced steady annual job growth for the past three years, slightly under the US average, but should still bring in another 14,200 net jobs this year, according to the CincinnatiUSA Partnership and Northern Kentucky Chamber of Commerce 2014 Regional Economic Outlook report. The region has a job growth rate of 1.4%, compared to 1.7% for the nation.
And according to a new report on the office market by Cassidy Turley, “that means that the local commercial real estate market is poised for a fourth consecutive year of positive absorption. In total, area businesses have absorbed over 650,000-square-feet of office space since the start of 2011.”
The office market had another solid first quarter, researchers found, with 20,573-square-feet of positive absorption. Overall vacancy sank 0.2 percentage points down to 22%, below the historical average of 22.35%.
“What really stands out this quarter is that while most areas in the Cincinnati region saw rental rates bottoming out, the CBD has experienced significant gross rent growth, 10.5%, since the first quarter of 2011,” says James Flick, vice president for research and marketing in Cassidy Turley's Cincinnati and Dayton offices. “This is due to the delivery of Great American Tower in the second quarter of 2011, building conversions of antiquated class B offices to multi-family, and increases in building operating expenses. We expect to see actual rent growth on the horizon for the rest of the Cincinnati market this year.”
As reported in GlobeSt.com, the increased activity has also attracted heightened interest from investors. In another recently released report, Cassidy Turley found that in the last six months of 2013, 83 properties in the metropolitan area worth more than $1 million traded hands, with a total sales volume of $1.136 billion.
The intense activity helped make 2013 yet another solid year for investment. A total of 158 commercial properties traded for about $1.5 billion, making 2013 the second straight year with more than $1 billion in commercial sales activity.
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Brian J. Rogal
Brian J. Rogal is a Chicago-based freelance writer with years of experience as an investigative reporter and editor, most notably at The Chicago Reporter, where he concentrated on housing issues. He also has written extensively on alternative energy and the payments card industry for national trade publications.
