Denver Real Estate Market Remains Hot
Investors continue to plow capital into the metropolitan Denver real estate market. In the first six months of this year, $2.3 billion worth of commercial properties sold, compared to $3.2 billion in sales for all of 2005, according to a Cushman & Wakefield report. Of the $2.3 billion in transactions, roughly $450 million of the sales were portfolio deals. Private and institutional investors from the United States and abroad snapped up local properties, with five office buildings selling for more than $100 million each.

Minneapolis Apartment Market Improves
The apartment vacancy rate has dropped to 4.8 percent in the seven-county Minneapolis metropolitan area, according to a report by GVA Marquette Advisors. That’s down from 6 percent for the same period last year. Rents have increased to an average of $860, a $12 increase from least year’s average of $848. The vacancy rate is lowest, at 3.9 percent, for units between $800 and $900 a month. The highest vacancy rate of 8.8 percent is for those over $1,500, a segment where demand was flat from last year.

Hotel Occupancy Could Dip in 2007
Next year, Hotel occupancy is expected to grow at a 1.4 percent pace, but new supply is expected to increase by 2 percent next year, according to PKF Hospitality Research and Torto Wheaton Research. That would result in a dip in nationwide occupancy, following three straight years of growth. Hotel occupancy level is forecast to be a rather healthy 68 percent next year. While that’s down slightly from the 68.4 percent projection for this year, it is well above the long-term average of 66.4 percent. And 24 out of 52 markets are expected to experience an increase in occupancy, despite the overall national decline.

Hawaiian Office Market Remains Strong
The office vacancy rate in Oahu, HI has fallen to its lowest point in 15 years, while rents have increased more than 10 percent since the end of 2004, according to the midyear Office Market Report by Colliers Monroe Friedlander. Oahu’s vacancy rate fell for the 12th consecutive quarter since the summer of 2003, when it was 13.8 percent. Colliers also predicts the vacancy rate will fall to roughly 7.2 percent by the end of this year.

Austin Office Market Continues to Improve
Colliers Oxford Commercial, Inc. has reported that the office market in Austin, TX continued to improve in the second quarter. Rents have increased to $21.19/sf, compared to $19.40 this time last year. In addition, the average rents in the class-A market were $23.92/sf, compared to $21.15 a year ago. While overall occupancy has improved by nearly a percentage point, to 82.0 percent, absorption suffered because about 185,000 sf of space was introduced to the market. That resulted in negative net absorption of about 100,000 sf.

Provided by Commercial Real Estate Direct