South Jersey’s commercial real estate market took a pause in the third quarter of 2018, according to WCRE‘s most recent quarterly analysis.
The report showed leasing and sales dropped in the quarter, but the market still has solid fundamentals, continued new investments from outside the area and economic inflows for local expansion.
“A lot of the positive trends we’ve been tracking for several quarters are still in place, so there are reasons to stay bullish,” Jason Wolf, founder and managing principal of WCRE, said. “But activity did cool off noticeably, at least in part due to summer.”
There was about 274,931 square feet of new leases and renewals in Burlington, Camden and Gloucester counties, which is down 10.5 percent compared to the second quarter. There was also 1.43 million square feet on the market or under agreement, which remains unchanged since last quarter.
New leasing activity accounted for 32 percent of all deals, the report said. Overall, 194,282 square feet of was absorbed this quarter.
Other highlights of the third quarter from the report include:
- Overall vacancy is at 11.3 percent, which is nearly one point higher than Q2
- Vacancy in Camden County increased to 12.3 percent;
- Vacancy in Burlington County increased to 10.4 percent after falling during the first half of the year.
WCRE also reported on South Jersey’s retail market, boasting a strong job market, consumer spending and other positive indicators.
Highlights from the retail section of the report include:
- Retail vacancy in Camden County was 7.4 percent and average rents were $15.38 per-square-foot;
- Retail vacancy in Burlington County was 8.2 percent and average rents were $13.84 per-square-foot.
- Retail vacancy in Gloucester County was 7.6 percent and average rents were $14.77 per-square-foot.
