Commercial real estate vacancies slowly declining, rents rising

Most of the major commercial real estate sectors show gradually improving fundamentals and are easily absorbing the relatively small amount of new space that is coming online, with a full recovery already in the multifamily market, according to the National Association of Realtors quarterly commercial real estate forecast. 

Lawrence Yun, NAR chief economist, said the market has been slowly building momentum.  “Job creation is the key to increasing demand in the commercial real estate sectors,” he said.  “The economy is expected to grow 2.5 percent next year, and with modest job creation, assuming there is no fiscal cliff, the demand for commercial space will gradually rise.  The greatest friction that remains is a tight credit environment, notably for smaller properties.”