Real estate continues recovery in Q4

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group reported Thursday that, despite sluggish economic growth, the U.S. commercial real estate market remained on a recovery path in fourth quarter 2012.



The retail availability rate declined slightly to 12.8%, down 10 bps compared with the previous quarter.



“The broken record of slow but positive progress toward a real estate recovery continues to repeat,” said Jon Southard, managing director of CBRE’s Econometric Advisors Group.



CBRE said that retailers remain wary of taking on substantial amounts of new space but the slow decline in availability continued with the rate falling to 12.8% in fourth quarter 2012, down 30 bps compared with the rate one year ago. A majority of the retail markets recorded either flat or declining availability rates compared with one quarter ago. Some notable performers were Denver, Cincinnati, Fort Worth, Kansas City and Minneapolis; each of these markets recorded a decline of at or above 60 bps. On the other end of the spectrum, markets such as Tulsa, Long Island and Bakersfield recorded increases in availability rates of at or over 50 bps in fourth quarter 2012.