The vacancy rate in the Long Island office market, which includes both Nassau and Suffolk County, is improving. By the end of the 3rd quarter of 2013, the vacancy rate stood at 10%. This is down from the 10.3% statistic we saw at the end of the second quarter. In other words, the numbers are definitely moving in the right direction. The vacancy rate continues to decrease with a net absorption of positive 296,424 s/f.
Further good news comes from the fact that office rental rates are going strong and ended the 3rd quarter at $25.70, which is an increase from the previous quarter. This number marks a 0.9% increase in quoted rental rates from the end of the second quarter of 2012 when rents were reported at $25.48 per s/f. Thus, we have two key numbers both heading in the right direction, but this isn’t the end of the good news.
In a third key factor, total office building sales activity in 2013 was up compared to 2012. In the first 6 months of 2013, the market saw 15 office sales transactions with a total volume of $184.041 million. In the same first six months of 2012, the market saw eight office sales transactions with a total volume of $36.5 million.
As featured in the New York Real Estate Journal, here Ron explains “With numbers like the three sets of numbers highlighted here, it is clearly not too bold to state that Long Island is looking quite good in general and compares very well to the national vacancy rate. The current national U.S. office vacancy rate stands at 11.6% with average rental rates of $21.75. This is in stark contrast to Long Island’s vacancy rental rate of 10% and rental rates of $25.48 per s/f.” See more at: http://nyrej.com/67278#sthash.sd7d4B7p.dpuf
