Industrial Tenants Can Still Find Space in the South Bay

The light blue line shows vacancy rate, while the dark blue illustrates rents.

LOS ANGELES—The industrial vacancy rate in the South Bay has officially fallen to 1%, according to a new industrial report from Collier’s International that GlobeSt.com has obtained exclusively. The South Bay closed the fourth quarter of 2016 with 1.4 million square feet of absorption, the most absorption since 2004 and 60% of the total absorption gains in 2016. The low vacancy rate is causing concern for tenants, but Chuck Littell, VP at Colliers International, says that the low vacancy doesn’t mean a lack of availability.

“There is availability,” Littell tells GlobeSt.com. “If I have a tenant that is interested in the South Bay, I can find properties on the market. They just aren’t vacant. There are very few properties on the market that are vacant, meaning my client could move into them tomorrow if they wanted. It also makes some business planning challenging for our clients because they have fewer options. They have to live with what is there.”