Construction in Sarasota and Manatee Counties continues, but there’s a strong dip in the scale of current projects across all sectors.

Vacancy rates in the region have risen slightly across most property types. Current vacancy rates in each sector are:

Retail: 3.9%
Industrial: 4.3%
Office: 4.7%
Multi-family: 9.7%
In the past quarter, lease and sale prices have generally gone up, except in the multi-family sector, which has seen a 2.8% dip in rental rates and an 11.4% drop in purchase price per unit. Office properties saw a minor 0.6% decrease in sale prices.

For perspective, our office rental market is doing well compared to national trends:

In the last quarter, our regional office vacancy rate is 4.7%, far below the national average of 13.4%. The National Rate is 2.85 times higher than our local rate.
Local rent is growing at 4%, nearly six times faster than the 0.7% national average. The SRQ Region’s rent growth is 5.7times that of the nation.
Our thriving in-migration contributes to rising demand as does a tighter supply in the commercial real estate market. Data

Source: Costar October 29,2023