IE Business Daily Business news for the Inland Empire.
The Inland Empire’s retail market continued to improve during the second quarter of 2016, with vacancy down and net absorption up during that three-month period.
Vacancy in the two-county region was 9.6 percent, among the lowest rate recorded since the start of the recession in 2008, according to CBRE’s Inland Empire second quarter retail report, which was released Monday.
Net absorption was more than 442,500 square feet, with all five major submarkets adding space during April, May and June.
Population growth, along with major credit tenants needing more retail space, is expected to drive the retail vacancy rate down even more through next year, the report stated.
On the downside, average lease rates were flat, dropping only one cent – to $1.89 cents per square foot – between the first and second quarters of this year.
However, Upland saw some retail space leasing for $4.00 per square foot, with South Riverside County, the East End and the Low Desert also posting solid leasing numbers, the report stated.
More than 143,400 square feet of retail space was under construction in Riverside and San Bernardino counties at the end of the second quarter, including Town Center Marketplace in Menifee and Epicenter Rancho Cucamonga, both major retail projects, the report stated.
