Source:   Pittsburgh Regional Alliance (PRA)

The Pittsburgh region has enjoyed the distinction of consistently performing better than its benchmark cities and the national average despite some of the worst economic conditions since the Great Depression.

According to the Allegheny Conference on Community Development analysis of economic indicators, Allegheny County, the region’s most populous county, contributed to that distinction by its performance.  The office and industrial real estate trends included in the analysis are worth noting as Allegheny County – and the entire region – rebounds from recession.  Historically, downtown Pittsburgh has had significantly more commercial vacancies than the suburbs. However, thanks to a thriving financial and business core, the downtown office vacancy rate plunged to below 15 percent by 2009, equaling the rate of the suburbs. That happened even as the county’s industrial real estate market grew steadily, with inventory increasing by more than 3 million square feet since 2007, to 64 million.

“The Pittsburgh region continues to thrive because of our famous stability: we don’t see the artificial highs,” said Gregg Broujos, Managing Director & Founding Principal at Colliers International | Pittsburgh. “Coupled with our large corporations who have remained faithful to the region, we continue to see growth and opportunity in the area.”