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As a subscriber you can listen to articles at work, in the car, or while you work out. Subscribe NowThe real estate market hasn’t been pretty, but there’s reason for optimism, the local office of Colliers Turley Martin Tucker says in its annual State of Real Estate Market Report.
The firm reports that although investment sales have slowed to a crawl, office vacancies are rising and retail developments are on hold, there are plenty of signs of life in the Indianapolis market.
CTMT will discuss its review of 2008 and predictions for 2009 at a gathering this afternoon at the Murat Centre.
The market added 13 new office buildings in 2008, which helped push vacancies to 18.2 percent, a jump of almost 3 percent since 2007, Colliers said in its report.
The industrial market, a local bright spot, added more than 4 million new square feet of space and still saw its vacancy fall to 7.4 percent from 8.5 percent a year ago. The market was buoyed in large part by Amazon.com, which was responsible for two of the market’s three largest warehouse leases of the year.
Bright spots for retail include the addition of several new fitness centers around town, along with a new Wal-Mart-anchored shopping center near Lafayette Square Mall. But the outlook remains somewhat bleak as national retailers scale back expansion plans and development of new neighborhood centers is put on hold.
Among the firm’s predictions for 2009:
– Leasing activity in industrial, office and retail will continue but at a slower rate than previous years.
– Industrial tenants will look to the west for expansion and development near the new Indianapolis International Airport terminal.
– Growth in the life science sector will continue thanks to efforts by the state’s universities.
– Developers will build more rental housing downtown as vacancies remain low and demand at IUPUI continues to grow.
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