Area vacancies lowest in retail sector

The local retail industry had the lowest vacancy rate during the first quarter and showed the most improvement year-to-year, according to the latest Xceligent Inc. Market Trends report, which covers retail, industrial and office vacancies in Springfield, Willard, Strafford, Rogersville, Ozark, Nixa and Republic.

The report, released yesterday, shows the area retail vacancy rate was 5 percent during the quarter, compared to 5.9 percent in the same quarter last year.

Of the retail industry's nearly 17 million square feet in the area, 835,748 square feet was vacant, according to the report.

Within the retail industry, general retail properties pushed the most square footage, 40,000, onto the market in the first quarter. Southwest Springfield had the largest positive absorption with more than 10,000 square feet.

Industrial and office vacancies were roughly flat year-to-year at 8 percent and 11 percent, respectively, according to the report.

In the industrial sector, which has roughly 31 million square feet of space in the area, there was 2.5 million square feet vacant.

Light industrial properties had the largest amount of space absorbed during the first quarter, with more than 7,400 square feet. The Strafford market had the most total space absorbed at 24,000 square feet, while the southwest Springfield market put the most space, 16,000 square feet, on the market for that sector, the report said.

The office market, which has 6.1 million square feet in the area, had 658,986 square feet vacant during the first quarter.

Nixa was the only market in the office sector with positive absorption at 2,000 square feet, while southeast Springfield had the most space put on the market with 11,000 square feet, according to the report.

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