• Leasing volume reached 10 million s.f. in Q3, bringing the year-to-date total to 31 million s.f.
• Consistently high demand resulted in 9.5 million s.f. of quarterly net absorption, a figure which matches the 10-year annual average
• Total vacancy declined for a third consecutive quarter and fell to 8.6%
• Deliveries for the quarter hit 8.1 million s.f. and were 83.2% preleased due to owner-user and build-to-suit completions

Houston’s industrial market continued to move at a rapid pace with another strong quarter of demand. Leasing activity was led by Chewy.com’s entry to Houston with a 690,000-s.f. deal at Northpoint 90 Logistics Center and an expansion in the market by an e-commerce user for 629,186 s.f. at Prologis Presidents Park, both of which were build to suits. Four consecutive quarters of robust leasing volume led to a flurry of move-ins from both a new and expanding tenant base, largely in first-generation product. Notable completions included a 1.5-million-s.f. build to suit for Lowe’s in New Caney, 1.9 million s.f. across two projects for an e-commerce company in the Southwest and 1.3 million s.f in two buildings in the North and Northwest submarkets for Home Depot. These companies, among many others, drove Q3 net absorption to 9.5 million s.f., and this momentum is expected to continue through the final quarter of the year. Given the volume of occupancy gains, vacancy dropped 40 basis points quarter-over-quarter to 8.6%. Demand is ahead of supply year to date, a trend which should carry through the close of 2021. Construction activity decreased 15.5% to 11.9 million s.f. despite 5.6 million s.f. of new groundbreakings. Rising materials costs and supply chain issues are still causing some delays, but several new building parks are poised to break ground in early Q4, and even more are in permitting and design phases for early 2022. Additionally, the flight to quality and appetite for new construction are driving an increase in asking rents across the metro. Click to read more at www.us.jll.com.

Ric Campo rode out a number of storms in his career. He co-founded Camden back in 1982, then helped take it public 11 years later. Anyone who’s worked in commercial real estate since the early ‘80s has seen the effects of a recession, Campo included, which is why his evaluation of the past 18 months is so good to hear.

“This is the best recovery out of a recession that I’ve ever seen in my business career,” says Campo, Camden’s Chairman of the Board and CEO.

The multifamily firm has developed dozens of luxury apartment communities all over the country — from Atlanta to Los Angeles. Campo says at the beginning of the pandemic, occupancy dropped about 100 basis points.

“When you get down to it, that’s not awful,” he says. “But what happened then was we rebuilt that occupancy in the summer of 2020 and now our national occupancy levels are in the 97 percent range.”

Campo says the turning point really seems to be March 2021. That’s when Camden noticed the biggest bump, especially in its Texas properties. Between Houston, Dallas and Austin, Camden operates nearly 50 multifamily communities in the Lone Star State.

“We were still weak coming out of 2020, then all of a sudden came March. You had more people getting vaccinated, the mask mandates being released and jobs were being added back in Texas overall,” explains Campo.

He says the impact is clear when you compare Q1 occupancy rates to those in Q2. Every single Texas market saw a bump for Camden. Austin went from 96.3 percent to 97.3 percent. Dallas got a boost from 96 percent to 96.6 percent. Houston grew from 94 percent to 95.7 percent. Quarter-over-quarter revenue is up too: 3.6 percent for Austin, 2.7 percent for Dallas and 3.3 percent for Houston. Click to read more at www.rednews.com.