Sin City CRE Vacancy Rate Holding Steady

Brokerage firm CB Richard Ellis of Las Vegas released promising commercial real estate fourth-quarter numbers for Sin City. The vacancy rate held steady during Q4 of 2010-- a sign analysts said that signals the worst of the downturn may be over for the retail, office, and industrial markets.

The international brokerage firm’s figures showed a 24-percent office vacancy rate at the end of 2010 -- a tick lower than the 24.1 percent in September of last year. (The firm reported a 23-percent vacancy rate at the end of 2009.)

With unemployment at historic high levels, CB Richard Ellis isn’t projecting the Las Vegas office sector will do a lot of hiring in 2011. It predicts that office employment will grow by approximately 300 jobs in 2011.

“The value of this figure is small, but it’s another indicator that points in the right direction,” the firm noted in its cautiously optimistic report. “Although it will take at least several years for the Las Vegas office market to return to vacancy and lease rates of 2006 and 2007, the statistics posted at the end of 2010 indicate a market that’s headed in the right direction,” it pointed out.

In the retail market, the vacancy rate at the end of 2010 was 11.3 percent, just above the 11.1 percent for Q3 of last year. “Recovery in the Las Vegas retail market will not occur quickly or easily, but we believe that we have reached the bottom of the economic cycle and are poised for a slow rebound over the next few years,” the firm said in its report. “Tourism is the driver of the Las Vegas economy, and it’s a key component of the health of the local retail market,” it added.