Report: Moderate improvement in Q3 for commercial real estate

Los Angeles -- CBRE Group said Wednesday that the U.S. commercial real estate market continued to show moderate improvement across all property sectors in third quarter 2012.



In the retail sector, properties continued to see modest improvement in availability, which fell 10 bps to 12.9%, during the third quarter.



“Real estate occupancy continues to improve slowly, mirroring the sluggish economic recovery,” said Jon Southard, managing director of CBRE’s Econometric Advisors group. “However, local conditions continue to vary widely. The majority of markets did see more space occupied than in the prior quarter, but in many markets, the occupancy increase was not enough to significantly decrease the total space available.”



The report found that a majority of the retail markets recorded either flat or declining availability rates compared with second quarter 2012. Notable top performers included Cleveland, Jacksonville, Fla., Bakersfield, Calif., Charlotte, N.C., and Cincinnati. On the bottom end were Las Vegas, Indianapolis, Tampa and Fresno, Calif., which recorded increases in availability rates of at least 50 bps in the third quarter.