Link in to Lincoln: Update on the South

We hope your 2013 is off to a great start, just as we all hope the commercial real estate markets and the economy make significant strides in the year ahead.

Last year presented definite signs of progress in the South, as you’ll see in the infographics below. For starters, the region’s for-sale housing markets – a powerful indicator of economic health – improved noticeably in 2012. In December, the annual rate of existing home sales stood at an annual rate of 1.95 million – an increase of 14.7 percent from one year earlier. The median home price in the South also jumped by 11 percent in the same timeframe.

Furthermore, the industrial real estate sectors in Orlando and Atlanta grew healthier last year, too. According to the most recent available data from CoStar, Orlando’s industrial vacancy rate dropped 1.2 percentage points to 10.5 percent during the first nine months of 2012; Atlanta’s rate declined by 40 basis points to 12.4 percent during that time. That’s not dramatic improvement, to be sure, but it’s a solid step in the right direction and with the Panama Canal expansion and potential deepening of the Port of Savannah on the horizon, the demand for industrial facilities in the South could grow significantly in the years ahead.

Meanwhile, the manufacturing sector in the Southeast grew sluggish in the final months of 2012, as detailed in the infographic below.

Here at Lincoln Property Company Southeast, we’re looking forward to a very active commercial real estate sector in the first half of 2013, as the conclusion of last year’s presidential election and the resolution of the “fiscal cliff” drama should help most corporate users solidify their business plans.