Austin Commercial Market Summary for 2019 and 2020 Outlook

[Bryan Noth]

https://www.statesman.com/busi...

Some key excerpts from this article:

"Austin’s office market “wrapped up 2019 and the decade much like it began -- with job growth outpacing national averages and an unemployment rate that remains one of the lowest in the country at 2.5%,” below the national average of 3.6%"

"On the occupancy side, the region’s office space was 92.3% full on average in the fourth quarter, up from 90.6% at the end of 2018"

"The areas that have seen rapid rent growth -- downtown, the Domain, East Austin, South Austin and the South MoPac Boulevard (Loop 1) corridor"

"CBRE said 12 new office projects were completed in the fourth quarter of 2019. Those buildings added about 1 million square feet of space, bringing the 2019 full-year total to 3.1 million.  That 3.1 million square feet grew the Austin-area office market by almost 6.2%"

"In downtown Austin, a 66-story tower is underway at West Sixth and Guadalupe streets that will have almost 590,000 square feet of office space, along with 349 apartments and retail space. And Google will occupy an entire 35-story office tower that is under construction at West Cesar Chavez and Nueces streets that will have 790,000 square feet of space."

"With vacancies downtown below 6% and pre-leasing of new construction over 70%, the health of the Austin central business district is very strong"

"...According to CBRE’s analysis. Austin is expected to see the largest year-over-year growth -- 2.6% -- in office-using jobs, ahead of San Francisco (2.5%); Dallas (2.1%); Houston (1.9%) and Orlando (1.7%)."