Commercial real estate recovery will continue, report says

By Roger Vincent, Los Angeles Times

The nation’s commercial real estate recovery will advance in 2013 with modest gains in leasing, rents, and sales prices, industry leaders said in a report.

Recent job creation should be enough to increase absorption and push down vacancy rates in the office, industrial and retail sectors. Despite being on a slower-than-normal recovery track, U.S. property sectors and markets have “noticeably” better prospects compared with last year, the report said.

Developers, architects, brokers, lenders and other commercial real estate professionals were surveyed for the annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report released by the industry think tank Urban Land Institute and accounting firm PricewaterhouseCoopers.

“What these findings suggest is that, in general, the industry is moving forward bit by bit,” said Stephen Blank, a senior fellow at the institute. “Nothing indicates a quick turnaround for commercial real estate, but it is improving.

Robust demand for apartments — the strongest real estate class — should continue even as construction of new units ramps up, the report said.