AUSTIN – Record-setting office market performance and the increasing adoption of co-working spaces are just two of the six trends transforming Austin, Texas, into an 18-hour city, according to a new report from CBRE.
Over the past decade, Austin has evolved from its ‘college town’ attitude into a dynamic metro with a dense urban core. In its new report, CBRE identifies key trends helping the Texas capital join the ranks of America’s major cities.
Office: due to robust employment growth, Austin’s office market is setting record highs in absorption and rents, while reaching new post-recession vacancy lows.
Co-working: co-working space has emerged as a desirable office type in Austin with nearly two dozen now in operation and a half dozen coming to market this year alone.
Industrial: the industrial market has seen falling vacancies and escalating asking rents in recent years, yet has not experienced an industrial development boom. There are indications industrial development could change soon.
Patents: Austin is a metropolitan leader in patent production, earning nearly 20 times as many patents as the U.S. national average since 2000.
Multifamily: the city’s ever strengthening workforce and the influx of millennials willing to pay for access to the central city’s cultural offerings has changed the face of multifamily, which has added 5,824 multifamily units to its urban core since the beginning of 2015.
Life sciences: the life sciences industry is quickly imbedding itself in Austin’s tech DNA; the top 10 life sciences employers in Austin occupy 1.1 million SF of office, flex and manufacturing space.
“An urban renaissance is happening in Austin, a city once almost exclusively driven by the public sector,” said Robert Kramp, Director of Research & Analysis, CBRE. “The new era of technology is supporting job and population growth, real estate development and sector diversity, along with a wealth of homegrown retailers that are elevating Austin’s brand outside the city limits.”
June 20, 2016