The national availability rate for industrial space declined from 7.8 percent during the second quarter of 2000 to 7.7 percent in the third-this was only a slight easing, but it brought industrial vacancies to their lowest level in almost five years. The third-quarter 2000 industrial vacancy rate was 0.4 percent lower than during the same quarter of 1999. This CB Richard Ellis survey measures the supply of available space in manufacturing plants and warehouse buildings of 100,000 square feet or larger. Vacancy rates as of last fall ranged from lows of less than 4 percent in Austin, Texas, to more than 15 percent in Baltimore.
Industrial vacancy rates (Percent industrial buildings for lease
Fort Lauderdale 26.5%
Austin 2.3%
Baltimore 16.8%
Albuquerque 3.1%
Palm Beach 14.6%
Portland (Ore.) 3.4%
Jacksonville 13.1%
San Francisco 4.7%
Sacramento 12.3%
Charlotte 5.0%
Source: CB Richard Ellis
Commercial, industrial & institutional (CII) construction spending (Billions of current dollars)
CII total
$28.35
18.5%
$253.77
11.6%
$273.47
3.6%
10.2%
3.7%
Commercial
12.21
16.5
109.66
10.5
119.65
8.1
9.0
2.2
Office
4.82
17.4
44.27
13.9
46.57
10.3
12.7
7.1
Retail
5.94
15.4
51.50
9.4
57.14
6.6
8.8
-3.7
Hotel/motel
1.44
18.6
13.90
4.4
15.94
7.6
2.6
-2.4
Industrial
4.00
41.8
33.26
13.9
34.90
-13.8
13.7
5.5
Institutional
12.14
14.3
110.85
12.1
118.92
5.4
10.3
4.7
Health care
1.77
12.7
16.32
12.2
17.59
-0.6
11.7
2.2
Education
5.39
23.7
48.87
17.9
49.51
7.8
16.3
9.5
Other institutional
4.98
6.2
45.66
6.4
51.82
5.3
6.1
9.5
Multifamily
2.43
3.6
23.39
2.6
27.26
10.9
0.8
3.7
Source: U.S. Dept. of Commerce; forecast: Cahners Economics