Fears Fade of NAFTA Trade Dispute

The Detroit region has made steady progress since the end of the recession, and asking rents just made a significant jump, according to NKF.

DETROIT—The Detroit region has deep ties to the Canadian economy, especially its auto sector, and a few months ago the escalating trade dispute between the Trump Administration and Canada helped cause a slowdown in new industrial projects. But those fears seem to evaporate as the two sides began moving toward an agreement, according to third quarter industrial trends data just published by Newmark Knight Frank.

“During the previous quarter uncertainty with NAFTA negotiations and ongoing tariff disputes were trumping positive market conditions such as growing GDP, healthy US automotive sales, reduced corporate tax rates, low unemployment rates and higher consumer confidence,” John DeGroot, research director of NKF’s Detroit office, tells GlobeSt.com. “Many potential deals during that period were halted and new construction starts dropped off dramatically. As the new trade deal United States-Mexico-Canada Agreement began to take shape during the third quarter, developer and user confidence returned to the market as new speculative and build-to-suit construction really picked up again.”