I had the privilege of attending the Goleta Valley Chamber of Commerce Issues & Policy Round table today.
The topic was Local Commercial Real Estate Trends. The speaker was Mark Mattingly of Pacifica Commercial Realty.
Mark did a very good job of reviewing the number for 2007 and putting them in to perspective. Some of his comments outlined how the vacancy rates we have here locally are some of the lowest in the State. He also spoke about how the lease rates have continued to rise.
Much was made of the impact of UCSB and it's technology spin offs. It was made very evident from Mark's comments and some of the guests that UCSB is a hot bed of technology and those new technologies often spawn new local companies that outgrow their spaces quite quickly.
Another comment that Mark made was as the defense industry shrank here locally it had just the opposite affect on local businesses. Many people from that industry created companies using some of the same technologies that had been created for the government.
All of Mark's presentation focused on the commercial market and did not mention retail. There were some comments from some of the guests regarding how retail seemed to be shrinking. The responses seemed to think this was related to the credit crunch our country is experiencing.
Mark ended his presentation by saying he thinks it will be a pretty good year for commercial real estate here on the south coast. I'm going to post some statistics below that Mark shared with all of us.
See You In Escrow!
4th Quarter Office R&D Vacancy Rates
Carpinteria 5%
Goleta 3.3%
Santa Barbara 2.4%
R&D/Office Lease Rates 4th Quarter 2007 (asking price)
Carpinteria $1.49 gross
Goleta $1.74 gross
Santa Barbara $2.65 gross
4th Quarter Industrial Vacancy Rates
Carpinteria 2.7%
Goleta 4.0%
Santa Barbara .04%
Industrial Least Rates 4th Quarter 2007 (asking price)
Carpinteria $1.40 gross
Goleta $1.33 gross
Santa Barbara $1.37 gross
