Springfield-area vacancy rates hold steady in 3Q

Office, industrial and retail vacancy rates in the Springfield area were relatively flat during the third quarter, according to the latest Xceligent Market Trends report on commercial real estate.

The office vacancy rate was flat at 10.7 percent compared to the same quarter of 2011; industrial vacancies were relatively unchanged at 7 percent; and retail vacancies dropped two-tenths of a point to 5.1 percent.

Office
Of the 6.2 million square feet of office space in the Springfield market - which includes Strafford, Rogersville, Ozark, Nixa and Republic - 742,898 square feet was available during the quarter.

Though its inventory is less than 100,000 square feet, Nixa had the highest office vacancy rate during the quarter, at 29.3 percent with 33,547 square feet available, according to commercial real estate tracker Xceligent.

During the quarter, the office sector had a negative absorption of 28,455 square feet. Southwest Springfield reported the largest amount of negative absorption, at 22,394 square feet. Negative absorption occurs when the amount of space that becomes available on the market exceeds the amount being taken off the market.

Industrial
In the industry sector, the market had 3.3 million square feet available out of the total inventory of 31.1 million square feet, according to the report.

The sector reported a negative absorption of 3,276 square feet during the third quarter, though the largest amounts of positive absorption were registered in Strafford, at 24,000 square feet, and northwest Springfield, 19,911 square feet. The central business district had the highest amount of negative absorption, at 30,329 square feet.

Retail
The retail sector recorded 966,863 square feet available out of a total inventory of 16.6 million square feet.

According to the report, the northeast Springfield area leased more than 21,000 square feet during the quarter, giving it the highest amount of absorption within the retail industry during the quarter.

The community center property type was the only one in the retail industry to have a negative absorption during the quarter, due largely to the Missouri Career Center's move from Glen Isle Shopping Center, the Xceligent report said.