USC Lusk Center Casden Forecast Says SoCal Industrial Markets on the Way Back; Office Markets to Languish
EuroInvestor.co.uk
... Southern California's office markets will continue to be weighed down by the recession next year, but the industrial markets could recover owing in part to strong growth in India and China fueling demand for U.S. goods, according to the 2010 Casden Industrial and Office Market Forecast released today by the University of Southern California Lusk Center for Real Estate (www.usc.edu/casden).
"Heightened traffic at the ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach will create more jobs and an increased need for warehousing across Southern California. And the expected growth nationwide in green technology, education and healthcare should bode well for the recovery of LA's office markets in 2011," said Tracey Seslen, Ph.D., co-author of the Casden Real Estate Economics Forecast. "Considerable downward pressures on office rents will continue, however, due to job losses across the board. The resulting drop in the value of many vacant office buildings will present new opportunities for cash buyers willing to wait out this downturn," she added.
Richard K. Green, Ph.D., director of the USC Lusk Center and a Forecast co-author, pointed out that even though Riverside and San Bernardino counties have some of the highest unemployment rates in the country, "Companies located in coastal areas will be setting up satellite offices in the Inland Empire where there is sufficient land and cheaper rental rates." Parts of the region will wait a long time for recovery, he pointed out, especially San Bernardino, which was substantially overbuilt...