Done Deals: Solid First Half Keeps Miami-Dade Recovery on Course

Thursday, August 22, 2013

Solid First Half Keeps Miami-Dade Recovery on Course

MIAMI, FL – Marcus & Millichap’s new research shows office vacancy slipped in Miami-Dade in the first half of 2013, offering additional evidence of the market’s slow but steady progress toward a full recovery.

Vacancy will also decline in the second half of the year, and property owners will make modest headway in raising rents. Under-utilized space remains a key issue here, as it does in nearly all metros.

Medical office campuses are growing

The pace of hiring moderated recently, but jobs that have been created over the past three years have been insufficient to generate widespread and significant new space requirements.

Financial services employment, in particular, still has considerable ground to cover to replenish the jobs lost during the recession, but residential real estate finance payrolls could receive a lift from a recovering housing market.

Medical fields also continue to emerge as a force for growth, as exemplified in the steady rate of tenants moving into the University of Miami Life Science & Technology Park.

Overall, progress in lowering vacancy will not be impeded by construction, which remains minimal. In many instances and locations, residential building is the most feasible use of developable land.