Joseph Bonney | Aug 09, 2011 3:05PM EDT
Vacancy rates for warehouses and distribution centers near U.S. seaports declined to 8.5 percent this year, compared with 9.7 percent nationally, real estate firm Jones Lang LaSalle said in a recent report.
“Even with a myriad of global economic challenges, seaport industrial real estate has continued to retain its premium value over inland industrial locations,” said John Carver, head of Jones Lang LaSalle’s ports, airports and global infrastructure team.
The vacancy rates for industrial real estate in port areas declined from 9.9 percent in 2010, according to the firm’s third annual port, airport and global infrastructure report.
Vacancy rates for warehouse and distribution center space around top U.S. ports ranged from 6.2 percent for Los Angeles-Long Beach and 7.2 percent at Seattle-Tacoma to 23.6 percent in the Savannah area.
Jones Lang LaSalle said its index of the top 12 U.S. port markets for industrial real estate showed Los Angeles remained No. 1 with a 95.1 score on the report’s index, followed by Long Beach at 92.8.
Others were Houston, 89.5, New York-New Jersey, 88.9, Virginia, 86.4, Savannah, 85.8; Baltimore, 82.5, Seattle-Tacoma, 81.1; Charleston, 80.8; Miami, 80.5; Jacksonville, 79.9 and Oakland, 74.8.
The index rates ports on container volumes, cargo growth rates and other factors including ratios of land value to lease rates, local vacancy rates, labor costs, availability of on-dock or near-dock service by Class 1 railroads and planned infrastructure improvement.
-- Contact Joseph Bonney at jbonney@joc.com. Follow him on Twitter @josephbonney.
