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Q3 2014 Pittsburgh Industrial Market Report
Q3 2014 Trending Upward
As expected the third quarter was an active quarter for lease executions. Net absorption for the quarter was 950,000 SF putting year to date absorption at just under 1,500,000 square feet. This already exceeds 2013’s total absorption of 1,150,000 square feet. With the current activity in the market there is no reason to think the trend will not continue into the fourth quarter. All indications are that 2014 will have a year end positive absorption that hasn’t been witnessed since 2008.
The only down side to this activity is we are still not seeing the market react with corresponding speculative development. Users (whether they be tenants or buyers) seeking quality space over 100,000 square feet now have only three options in the entire Southwest Pennsylvania market. We do see some light on the horizon with several hundred thousand square feet of speculative building in the pipeline, but this is just not enough to satiate the market’s appetite.
Click here to see the full Q3 2014 Industrial Market Report.
Pittsburgh possesses beauty, brains and a new economy
Sources: Pittsburgh Business Times, Chicago Tribune, Huffington Post, Pittsburgh Post Gazette
Chicago Tribune travel writer Josh Noel described Pittsburgh as “one of our nation’s most underrated cities, with a beauty as breathtaking as it is obvious” in his January 4th article titled “New meets old in Pittsburgh.” While this is true to anyone who has seen the city skyline, Pittsburgh has much more to offer than just beauty.
With the steel-city persona and days of heavy industry over, the city experiences a “new Pittsburgh economy” more focused on growth rather than manufacturing. In 2012, the Pittsburgh metropolitan market recorded 2.91 knowledge jobs per manufacturing job, compared with a 2.38 ratio for the country overall. Perhaps this transition is due to the growth of area universities, including Carnegie Mellon University who is ranked 23rd in the U.S. News and World Report’s most recent ranking of national universities. In fact, Movoto deemed Pittsburgh “America’s Smartest City” in their 2013 ranking of the 100 most populous U.S. cities.
Between 2007 and 2012, the gross domestic product for the Pittsburgh area increased 4.6 percent, and in 2012, average employment was above 750,000. Not only are these individuals employed, they are happy in their workplace. In January 2013, the site Career Bliss ranked Pittsburgh in the top five cities with the happiest workers, based on more than 36,000 reviews.
colliersinternationalpittsburgh.com 