Commercial Investment Real Estate Winter 2021 | Page 11

MULTIFAMILY ABSORPTION REBOUNDS AFTER 1ST COVID WAVE
YOUNGER GENERATIONS MORE OPEN TO WORK-SHOP- PLAY LIVING SPACES
COLD STORAGE MAY PROVE CRUCIAL IN COVID VACCINE
BOAT BUYERS IN MARKET FOR STORAGE SPACES
This page , left to right : Barry Winiker , Ryan J . Lane , Bill Oxford , Gaspr13
When the U . S . faced shelterin-place orders across the country in the first half of 2020 , apartment absorption plummeted . But the multifamily sector rebounded in July and August , with 50,000 units absorbed — nearly as many units as in the first half of the year , according to Yardi Matrix ’ s study of 17 million apartment units in its database . As areas began to reopen after the initial shutdown , pent-up demand helped many metro areas rebound .
Cities in the Sunbelt and West saw solid absorption numbers , including Dallas ( 4,000 ), Denver ( 3,600 ), Atlanta ( 3,000 ), and Phoenix ( 2,100 ). Gateway metros struggled , with New York , Boston , Chicago , Los Angeles , and San Francisco accounting for a net absorption of -4,300 units . These urban centers are continuing to see many residents exit the market as office , retail , entertainment , and hospitality properties remain closed or limited in operation .
Big-box retail outlets were in trouble before 2020 brought along a once-in-a-century economic disruption . The problem , according to Shopping Center Business , isn ’ t that retail is overbuilt ; it ’ s that it ’ s “ under demolished .” Potential replacements for large retail properties include mixed-use developments with hotel , office , residential , and medical uses .
Shopping Center Business found that younger people are more amenable to living in such all-in-one communities . Just 71 percent of people 55 years and older would consider such a development , compared to 80 percent of individuals from 39 to 54 years old and 85 percent of people between 21 and 38 years old . While mixed-use and adaptive reuse projects will continue to be hot topics in 2021 , these properties appear to appeal to many younger consumers .
The U . S . boasts nearly 250 million sf of cold storage inventory , according to JLL , roughly 1.8 percent of all U . S . industrial space . Vacancies have been below 10 percent for decades , but look for demand to increase . With pharmaceutical companies working on hundreds of potential COVID-19 vaccines , cold storage could be a vital link in bringing doses to millions of Americans . Increased demand for last-mile delivery and growing supply has positioned the sector for success , with some locations capable of fulfilling vaccine-related needs .
“ The vaccine is vital to save lives and help facilitate economic recovery ,” says Peter Kroner , investor research , industrial , JLL . “ We expect to see an increase of hundreds of thousands of square feet of cold storage space in strategic locations across the globe in order to meet demand .”
Thanks to the social pressures associated with proper physical distancing in the face of the coronavirus pandemic , boat sales headed north for much of 2020 . According to the National Marine Manufacturers Association , sales jumped 30 percent in the summer . But , according to Bisnow , consumers are now faced with the challenge of finding places to store them .
“ The boater demand is growing like crazy , but the supply of new marinas is obviously not moving too much ,” says Integra Investments Principal Victor Ballestas , during a November Bisnow webinar about the future of marinas . “ That supply / demand constraint is where we think that the opportunity lies in the space .”
For the near term , the future of marina space might be upward , with developers building multilevel properties that can store and retrieve boats automatically .
CIREMAGAZINE . COM COMMERCIAL INVESTMENT REAL ESTATE MAGAZINE 9