JKG
Q3 INDUSTRIAL market report
Gallelli Real Estate 3005 Douglas Blvd #200 Roseville, CA 95661 P 916 784 2700 GallelliRE.com
2023 | GALLELLI REAL ESTATE
market overview
Q3 23
4.6%
±-149,000 SF
$0.84
Direct Vacancy Rate
Net Absorption
Average Asking Rate (NNN)
±4.6 MSF
4.5%
4.6%
3.8%
Under Construction
Sacramento Unemployment
California Unemployment
United States Unemployment
DESPITE UPTICK IN VACANCY MARKET REMAINS TIGHT As of the close of Q3 2023, total industrial vacancy in the Sacramento region stood at 4.6%. This includes all industrial product types and categories. The region’s current overall vacancy rate reflects a slight increase from last quarter’s revised rate of 4.3%, but a continued trend of vacancy creeping upwards off recently historic lows. A year ago, this metric stood at 4.1% and, as recently as Q1 2022, the market posted record low vacancy of 3.8%. Since then, vacancy has been climbing, though not always in a straight line. Despite continued strong demand both nationally and locally for modern distribution, as well as eCommerce fulfillment space, the reason this metric has been slowly climbing is due to a combination of factors. First, the Sacramento region has added 13.8 million square feet (MSF) of new, largely speculative, inventory since 2020. Against the total size of the market at the start of 2020, that level of development effectively increased the local industrial inventory by just under 10.0% (9.7%, to be precise). The other part of the equation has cooled from white hot to warm. For example, gross
absorption, or total deal activity, set a local record in Q2 2021 when just under 5.5 MSF of deals were transacted. But over the past three months, total deal activity amounted to just 1.5 MSF. While heightened economic concerns have played a role in this, the availability of quality, modern product in the region has remained a factor in constraining deal activity, though to a significantly less degree than it has in recent years. Still, this combination of factors translated into negative net absorption in the region to the tune of -149,000 square feet (SF). This is the first time since Q3 2020 that the market has not recorded occupancy growth, following a record setting 2021 when Sacramento experienced a whopping (and record setting) 7.7 MSF of positive net absorption. That performance was followed by a robust 2022 in which more than 2.9 MSF of positive net absorption was posted. Though Q3 2023’s totals are in the red, the market has recorded a total of 1.5 MSF yearto-date. This lines up just below the 1.7 MSF of annual growth that Sacramento averaged throughout the 2010s (2010 – 2019), assuming the market returns to growth in Q4. Of course, performance has not played out the same over different industrial product types. We break the market down into two basic building categories spread across 16 distinct submarkets throughout the greater Sacramento region: warehouse (which includes traditional distribution, cold storage, eCommerce fulfillment, manufacturing, and dead storage space), and flex space (which is typically hybrid industrial mixed with office or retail components). Let’s begin our analysis with the region’s smaller, and less active industrial product category, flex space.
FLEX UPDATE Flex space in the Sacramento region currently has a 7.8% vacancy rate. This metric increased in Q3 from last quarter’s 6.9% reading and is also elevated over the 6.5% rate posted one year ago. However, unlike the overall market and warehouse product, flex space in the region has not set any records as of late in terms of either vacancy or absorption. Since 2021 it has hovered in the 6.0% to 8.0% range. Flex space accounted for -169,000 of negative net absorption in Q3, which drove overall totals into the red. Seven of Sacramento’s 16 submarkets recorded negative net absorption this quarter, though the lion’s share of this came from multiple space givebacks from tenants in the Natomas/Northgate (-118,000 SF), Power Inn (-57,000 SF) and Roseville/Rocklin markets (-49,000 SF). Growth leaders this quarter were the Folsom/El Dorado Hills submarket (+35,000 SF), Davis/ Woodland (+23,000 SF) and Elk Grove/Laguna (+18,000 SF) trade areas, but with no other market recording more than 10,000 SF of positive net absorption, it was not enough to keep overall totals in the black. But this segment of the market accounts for just 18.9 MSF, or 10.8%, of Sacramento’s total industrial inventory. The current average asking rent for flex space is $0.97 PSF on a monthly triple net basis, exactly where it stood one year ago. The region’s largest growth spurt in this type of inventory occurred in the 1990s and early 2000s, but since then very little new flex product has been built. Locally, the last new flex building to come online was three years ago and the last time that more than 100,000 SF
of product was delivered was 2008. The focus of tenants, investors, and developers alike has been warehouse—particularly large cube distribution and eCommerce fulfillment warehouses. This is where the action has been, remains and will continue to do so.
WAREHOUSE UPDATE The region’s warehouse inventory accounts for 155.4 MSF of the region’s total inventory of 174.3 MSF (89.6%). As of the close of Q3, warehouse vacancy stood at 4.2%, up from last quarter’s 4.0% and an all-time low of 3.5% in Q1 2022. Occupancy for this product category grew in Q3, though only by 21,000 SF. However, the market posted just under 1.3 MSF of total gross absorption—the lowest amount of transactional volume posted since Q1 2020. Meanwhile, 428,000 SF of new speculative inventory came online. This combination of reduced deal flow and continued deliveries of new product is what drove vacancy up a couple of notches over the past three months. That said, nine of the region’s 16 submarkets recorded positive net absorption in Q3. However, space givebacks more than 30,000 SF took place in the McClellan, Northeast, Power Inn, and Sunrise/Highway 50 submarkets substantially mitigated occupancy gains exceeding 30,000 SF that took place in the Davis/Woodland, Natomas/Northgate, Roseville/ Rocklin, and West Sacramento trade areas. Despite the combination of new product coming to market as leasing is cooling, the current average asking rent for warehouse space in the Sacramento region is now $0.82 per square foot (PSF) and up 12.3% over where it stood ($0.77 PSF) one year ago. Sacramento has been
averaging double-digit rent growth for warehouse product since 2016, when the average asking rent was just $0.38 PSF. There are a couple of reasons why warehouse rents have skyrocketed. In 2016, there was only a limited supply of modern distribution space in the region—most of Sacramento’s warehouse inventory was 25 years old or older. The higher cost of building new, modern facilities was already a factor driving outsized rental rate growth before the recent wave of inflation created even greater upward pressure on prices. But, ultimately, it comes down to demand and even in light of recent trends, incredibly tight leasing conditions remain in the Sacramento warehouse market. In terms of equilibrium, while the market has crept slowly towards greater balance between supply and demand, the pendulum still swings in favor of landlords over tenants with just 4.6% vacancy. This is why the warehouse construction pipeline has continued to grow. Two new warehouse buildings totaling 428,000 SF of space came online in Q3 in the West Sacramento market. But there are an additional 26 projects currently under construction totaling 4.5 MSF in the development pipeline across the region with deliveries slated through early 2025. The Natomas/Northgate submarket (and home to one of the region’s current epicenters of growth, Buzz Oates’ Matro Air Park project) accounts for 3.3 MSF of this space. Projects within the Sunrise/Highway 50 corridor account for an additional 747,000 SF of space under development, while the Roseville/Rocklin, Mather, Elk Grove/Laguna, Davis/Woodland, and Auburn/Newcastle account for the rest. Looking ahead, this level of development, the majority of which is speculative, is likely to drive local vacancy rates upwards, it is critical to note that the current warehouse construction pipeline of 4.5 MSF
still equates to just 2.9% of the existing inventory. While we think it likely warehouse vacancy tops the 5.0% mark in the next six to nine months and that rent growth will likely start to flatten, this all depends on how quickly the market can absorb this space. Should the US economy be able to avoid recession ahead, we think that this space will move quickly—though not at the breakneck pace of 2021 or 2022 (when the market respectively averaged net absorption of 1.8 MSF and 717,000 SF per quarter).
LOOKING AHEAD Since April of last year, economists have been debating whether the Federal Reserve could engineer a “soft landing” in its attempts to curb inflation, or whether a recession was a given. In August 2022, 72% of the members of the National Association of Business Economists (NABE) anticipated a recession within the next six months. That pessimism has since reversed itself. In their recently conducted August 2023 survey, 69% of NABE economists said they see a “soft landing” on the horizon. So far, the economy has proven to be far more resilient than analyst expectations with both consumer spending and the labor markets defying forecasts and outperforming. This has certainly remained the case for the labor market;
Select Sacramento Region Industrial Leases Q3 2023 Address
Submarket
SF Footage
Tenant
3765 Channel Drive
West Sacramento
159,270
TK Classics
10050 Foothills Boulevard
Roseville/Rocklin
146,016
Keysight Technologies
8250-8292 Industrial Avenue
Roseville/Rocklin
132,570
Denman of California
141 Commerce Circle
NE Sacramento
52,100
Discovery Boat & RV Storage
8360 Belvedere Avenue
Power Inn
42,000
Emerald Textiles
5860 Alder Avenue
Power Inn
40,000
Electric Equipment Company
4119 S. Market Court
Natomas/Northgate
34,306
ENO Glass
4522 Parker Avenue
McClellan
20,000
Quincy Compressor
4530 Raley Boulevard
McClellan
11,530
Highlands Community Charter and Technical School
3134 James Way
McClellan
8,250
AmeriaCorps
industrial market report September’s job report reflected job creation of a whopping 336,000 new positions. However, the biggest drivers of growth were leisure and hospitality (+96,000), government (+73,000), and healthcare (+41,000). Employment growth for the categories that drive office employment were substantially below those levels with professional and business services (+21,000), financial services (+3,000), and information (-5,000) job growth reflecting an entirely different picture. Meanwhile, consumer spending has been coming back to earth. The most recent retail sales report from the Census Bureau reflected 2.5% annual growth in August. Despite the elevated inflationary pressures that have been in play since late 2021, this metric has remained positive since the early days of the pandemic (May 2020). But this metric has measured outsized gains in 2021 (averaging 19.0% y-o-y for each month) and 2022 (averaging 9.8% annual growth). But since March 2023 retail sales have fallen below the 5.0% growth rate.
As of Q3, with economic indicators remaining mixed, the US economy is in what could be best described as a “hold your breath moment,” where it will soon become apparent if the Fed has successfully engineered a “soft landing,” versus a bumpy one, or a crash landing. Economic readings regarding job creation, retail sales and inflation will have outsized importance over the next few months as the longer-term impacts of the Fed’s rate hike campaign increasingly become clear. However, most economic forecasters that see a recession as likely in the next six months believe it likely to be short and shallow. What is likely to be more challenging for the commercial real estate market is the continued possibility of future Fed rate hikes. August’s inflation report (the most recent data as this report went to press) reflected an uptick in from 3.4% to 3.5% annually. That number was thanks to elevated energy prices that were in place before the October Hamas attacks
JKG
Q3 23
on Israel, which have initially resulted in additional upward pressure on oil. Meanwhile, September’s incredibly robust jobs report is another factor that makes it more likely the Fed will raise interest rates yet again.
As for impacts on the industrial market? We expect that over the final quarter of the year net absorption will return to positive levels thanks to several major deals that are currently in the pipeline. Meanwhile, we are not currently aware of any significant (+30,000 SF) planned vacancies. But this will not stop us from seeing additional upticks in vacancies. Assuming multiple projects in the development pipeline can keep to their delivery schedules, we will likely see somewhere between 500,000 and 700,000 SF of new product being delivered, most of which is speculative. Both occupancy growth and vacancy to increase in Q4. That said, we are still likely looking at a vacancy rate in the low 5.0% range with rents holding firm. Assuming the economy escapes a recession, we anticipate demand levels to tick up heading into 2024. But, one does occur over the next six months and economist predictions of a brief and shallow downturn are correct, we are still likely to see demand ticking back up in recovery, which would likely be over the second half of 2024. Like every other commercial real estate property type, industrial investment activity has been deeply challenged by the Federal Reserve’s campaign of interest rate hikes over the past 18 months. This is particularly acute for industrial properties because of the aggressive rental rate growth of the past few years and the fact that cap rates had compressed for premium product to the 4.0% to 5.0% range. Investors searching for yield were already starting to look elsewhere before interest rates increased by 500+ basis points. The higher cost of money brings with it downward pressure on pricing; thus, we continue to see few owners wishing to part with their investments unless they have to and we continue to see a significant gap between asking prices and seller bids. We expect this situation to continue until we begin to see greater economic clarity over the next six months.
Net Absorption Submarket
Existing Vacant SF
Vacancy Direct (%)
2,717,011
Inventory
Total Quarterly
Last Four Quarters
SF Delivered
SF Under Construction
Avg. Asking Rate PSF
Avg Asking Rent PSF One Year Ago
Average Asking Rent % Change Annually 49.2%
Warehouse / Distribution Auburn/Newcastle
15,495
0.6%
7,262
66,258
-
37,440
$0.97
$0.65
Flex Warehouse
663,860
14,995
2.3%
7,762
4,573
-
-
$0.70
$0.70
-
2,053,151
500
-
(500)
61,685
-
37,440
$1.05
$0.64
64.1%
Davis/Woodland
16,764,334
218,196
1.3%
90,736
32,735
-
107,612
$0.64
$0.56
14.3%
Flex Warehouse
844,034
47,004
5.6%
22,919
(13,381)
-
107,612
$1.78
$1.96
(9.2%)
15,920,300
171,192
1.1%
67,817
46,116
-
37,440
$0.59
$0.50
18.0%
Downtown
2,463,646
136,337
5.5%
(3,377)
23,745
-
-
$0.88
$0.83
6.0%
Flex Warehouse
455,995
3,007
0.7%
(3,007)
-
-
-
$1.30
-
-
2,007,651
133,330
6.6%
(370)
23,745
-
-
$0.85
$0.83
2.4%
East Sacramento
539,688
32,457
6.0%
-
13,200
-
-
$1.55
$2.00
(22.5%)
Flex Warehouse
55,619
10,457
18.8%
-
-
-
-
$2.00
$2.00
-
484,069
22,000
4.5%
-
13,200
-
-
$1.20
-
-
6,425,859
Elk Grove/Laguna
37,033
0.6%
20,319
174,817
-
59,100
$1.08
$0.72
50.0%
Flex Warehouse
370,610
9,785
2.6%
18,402
6,110
-
-
$1.26
$1.07
17.8%
6,055,249
27,248
0.4%
1,917
168,707
-
59,100
$1.00
$0.68
47.1%
Folsom/El Dorado Hills
5,173,942
215,117
4.2%
36,464
(31,957)
-
-
$0.94
$1.04
(9.6%)
Flex Warehouse
2,062,661
164,090
8.0%
34,693
(12,937)
-
-
$0.84
$0.96
(12.5%)
3,111,281
51,027
1.6%
1,771
(19,020)
-
-
$1.17
$1.16
0.9%
Mather
5,342,293
315,735
5.9%
(25,913)
(41,038)
-
155,076
$0.88
$0.72
22.2%
Flex Warehouse
1,575,171
221,924
14.1%
(31,125)
(95,749)
-
-
$0.84
$0.98
(14.3%)
3,767,122
93,811
2.5%
5,212
54,711
-
155,076
$0.88
$0.61
44.3%
McClellan
17,456,322
901,505
5.2%
(216,077)
157,933
-
149,000
$0.98
$0.71
38.0%
Flex Warehouse
1,858,369
323,785
17.4%
8,088
53,943
-
-
$0.82
$0.80
2.5%
15,597,953
577,720
3.7%
(224,165)
103,990
-
-
$1.03
$0.68
51.5%
Northgate/Natomas
21,084,272
1,190,841
5.6%
14,714
995,567
-
3,279,725
$0.73
$0.73
-
Flex Warehouse
2,073,084
175,257
8.5%
(117,546)
(103,226)
-
-
$0.83
$0.82
1.2%
19,011,188
1,015,584
5.3%
132,260
1,098,793
-
3,279,725
$0.71
$0.71
-
Northeast Sacramento
6,084,625
310,986
5.1%
(27,161)
(19,012)
-
-
$0.84
$0.84
-
Flex Warehouse
937,701
33,256
3.5%
6,687
24,348
-
-
-
-
-
5,146,924
277,730
5.4%
(33,848)
(43,360)
-
-
$0.83
$0.84
(1.2%)
Power Inn
26,725,469
682,751
2.6%
(192,839)
(232,186)
-
-
$0.91
$0.91
-
Flex Warehouse
1,155,046
116,129
10.1%
(56,737)
(73,232)
-
-
$1.12
$1.08
3.7%
25,570,423
566,622
2.2%
(136,102)
(158,954)
-
-
$0.90
$0.90
-
Richards
3,994,542
198,785
5.0%
(13,127)
49,909
-
-
$0.68
$0.59
15.3%
Flex Warehouse
200,227
-
-
-
14,007
-
-
-
-
-
3,794,315
198,785
5.2%
(13,127)
35,902
-
-
$0.68
$0.59
15.3%
Roseville/Rocklin
19,085,922
360,494
1.9%
66,859
391,938
-
30,000
$0.86
$0.80
7.5%
Flex Warehouse
3,224,034
92,370
2.9%
(48,943)
(70,415)
-
-
$1.22
$1.06
15.1%
15,861,888
268,124
1.7%
115,802
462,353
-
30,000
$0.73
$0.67
9.0%
South Sacramento
4,370,194
1,030,525
23.6%
19,426
(83,624)
-
-
$0.87
$0.89
(2.2%)
Flex Warehouse
157,238
15,226
9.7%
(6,091)
6,948
-
-
$0.83
-
-
4,212,956
1,015,299
24.1%
25,517
(90,572)
-
-
$0.89
$0.89
-
Sunrise
12,054,877
454,852
3.8%
(48,994)
223,980
13,500
747,346
$0.87
$0.55
58.2%
Flex Warehouse
1,904,611
220,607
11.6%
(8,345)
17,522
-
-
$0.88
$0.83
6.0%
10,150,266
234,245
2.3%
(40,649)
206,458
-
747,346
$0.86
$0.54
59.3%
West Sacramento
23,981,919
1,928,275
8.0%
123,023
310,446
414,741
-
$0.82
$0.69
18.8%
Flex Warehouse
1,387,116
28,342
2.0%
4,005
(1,374)
-
-
$1.10
$0.89
23.6%
22,594,803
1,899,933
8.4%
119,018
311,820
414,741
-
$0.79
$0.68
16.2%
Totals
174,264,915
8,029,384
4.6%
(148,685)
2,032,711
428,241
4,565,299
$0.84
$0.77
9.1%
Flex
18,925,376
1,476,234
7.8%
(169,238)
(242,863)
-
107,612
$0.97
$0.97
-
Warehouse
155,339,539
6,553,150
4.2%
20,553
2,275,574
428,241
4,457,687
$0.82
$0.73
12.3%
SPECIALTY SUBSETS: Cold Storage/Food Process
4,660,249
875,577
18.8%
-
-
-
155,076
$1.00
$1.00
-
Warehouse
15,129,923
283,880
1.9%
(88,687)
113,774
-
998,000
$0.76
$0.74
2.7%
JKG
GALLELLI BROKER TEAMS INVESTMENT Gary Gallelli
CEO - Partner gary@gallellire.com
Pat Ronan
Vice President pat@gallellire.com
Aman Bains
Associate Vice President abains@gallellire.com
Adam Rainey
Associate Vice President arainey@gallellire.com
RETAIL Kevin Soares
Bob Berndt
Matt Goldstein
Kurt Conley
Robb Osborne
Brandon Sessions
Executive Vice President | Partner ksoares@gallellire.com
Vice President mgoldstein@gallellire.com
Executive Vice President | Partner bberndt@gallellire.com
Jeff Hagan
Senior Vice President | Partner jhagan@gallellire.com
Senior Associate kconley@gallellire.com
OFFICE Partner rosborne@gallellire.com
Senior Vice President bsessions@gallellire.com
CAPITAL MARKETS RESEARCH Kristopher Krise Capital Markets Advisor kkrise@gallellire.com
JKG Gallelli Real Estate 3005 Douglas Blvd #200 Roseville, CA 95661 P 916 784 2700 GallelliRE.com
Garrick Brown VP, Real Estate Intelligence & Business Development
gbrown@gallellire.com
Kannon Kuhn
Associate kkuhn@gallellire.com
Phillip Kyle
Senior Vice President pkyle@gallellire.com