Retail vacancies falls to 5.0% in the fourth quarter 2015

Retail vacancies falls to 5.0% in the fourth quarter 2015, down 0.2% from previous quarter. Total net absorption for fourth quarter came in at 788,302 square feet, while quoted rent rates increased to $15.57 per square foot. Over the past four quarters, the fourth quarter had the highest net absorption rate with 788,302 square feet, compared to third quarter with 299,450 square feet, while in second quarter 2015, absorption came in at positive 74,318 square feet. In the first quarter 2015, net absorption was 511,636 square feet. Retail vacancies also saw an overall decrease in the vacancy rate over the last four quarters, with the rate going from 5.3% in the first quarter and second quarter 2015, to 5.2% at the end of the third quarter 2015. Sublease space in the Denver market also saw a similar trend over the past four quarters, with 300,998 square feet of vacant sublease space available at the end of the first quarter 2015, compared to 285,636 square feet at the end of the fourth quarter 2015. Average quoted asking rental rates for the fourth quarter 2015 stood at $15.57 per square foot, up 2% from the previous quarter where the rental rates stood at $15.27. First quarter 2015 rental rates were $15.30 per square foot. This represents a 1.73% increase from the previous four quarters.

A total of 36 retail buildings with 765,213 square feet of retail space were delivered to the market in the fourth quarter, while another 1,052,441 square feet were still under construction. A total of 1,440,029 square feet of retail space was built in 2015, increasing the total retail inventory for the Denver market area to 193,353,005 square feet in 14,469 buildings and 1503 centers at the end of the fourth quarter.

Retail vacancies for shopping centers remained pretty much flat for the entire year, at 7.7%, after absorbing 173,066 square feet in the fourth quarter. Power centers preformed much better, dropping from 3.4% a year ago to 3.1% in fourth quarter 2015.

Submarket retail vacancies for Colorado Blvd/Cherry Creek was 1.3% at the end of fourth quarter 2015, while downtown stood at 3.1%.