Greater Houston’s October average rent price was the highest in two years, a new report shows.

According to real estate technology and analytics firm RealPage Inc. (Nasdaq: RP), the average monthly rent for the Houston-The Woodlands-Sugar Land metro area in October was $1,105 — $19 more than the previous month and $30 more than a year earlier. It’s the area’s highest rent level since October 2015.

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If a retail developer and a multifamily developer are in a bidding war for a prime tract of land, put your money on the multifamily developer.

More often than not, apartment developers can far outbid retail developers for land, sometimes bidding twice as much as a retail developer could. It’s for a simple enough reason – apartments have more revenue streams stacked atop one another than a one- or two-story retail development – but these bidding wars are leading to the development of more mixed-use projects in Houston.

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Though there’s a few more weeks left in 2017, the year has proved itself as one of the most eventful for Houston’s commercial real estate market.

Hurricane Harvey sent demand for the city’s multifamily and hotel sectors skyrocketing as displaced Houstonians continue to seek out temporary lodging. Houston’s industrial market, in large part due to an influx of demand from e-commerce giants like Amazon and others, has maintained a vacancy rate of less than 5 percent and established Houston as a formidable distribution hub. Meanwhile, the city’s office market continues to buckle under the weight of its 10 million square feet of available sublease space.

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Though the Upper Kirby District’s longtime executive director recently announced her retirement, the district’s new leader, Travis Younkin, is stepping up to the plate with no shortage of improvements underway.

Jamie Brewster retired on Nov. 1 after leading the district for 30 years. Under her tenure, the Upper Kirby corridor was reimagined as a luxe, upscale district with plenty of fine dining and retail. Last year, the district’s $25 million investment into the 5.6-acre Levy Park at 3801 Eastside St. was unveiled and added performance space, activity lawns, a dog park and space for a restaurant. Brewster also oversaw more than $75 million in roadway and drainage improvements.

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If you’re looking for a new office space in Houston’s Central Business District, you have plenty of choices.

The 15 largest spaces available for direct leases range from 1,314,350 square feet to 182,129 square feet. In total, there was 8.2 million square feet available for direct leases in the district, as of Sept. 29.

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Houston may see a slowdown in retail development in 2018 – but that probably isn’t a bad thing.

“Two years ago, there was no end in sight (to retail developments),” said Jason Baker of Baker Katz LLC. “That seems to have changed a bit.”

The Houston market is currently sitting on a retail vacancy rate of 5.6 percent, according to research from NAI Partners, so less development is welcome as retail tenants continue to figure out how to adapt in the age of Amazon and the rise of e-commerce.

The city’s retail occupancy rate is currently at 94.4 percent, and demand is still high, so a slowdown in retail developments means sustained rent rates and occupancy, Baker said.

Click to read more at Houston Business Journal.