Commercial Real Estate & Business News – January 20, 2022

Holiday 2021 was one for the record books despite slower December sales.Sales grew 17% year-over-year in November and December, according to ICSC’s 2021 Post-Holiday Survey. (The ICSC includes restaurant sales in its total.) Consumers spent an average of $1,011 during the holiday season. Fifty-percent of shoppers reported spending more than…»

Even after years of record-breaking industrial activity in the Phoenix market, the demand for speculative space remains high. Before the pandemic, Minneapolis-based Ryan Companies, which had traditionally been an office developer in the Phoenix market, started developing speculative industrial space, said Josh Tracy, vice president for real estate development for Ryan Cos. in Phoenix…»

Perhaps the biggest story of 2021 for commercial real estate was the huge spike in apartment rents, of an unprecedented 17.8% nationally, according to stats provided by Apartment List. In fact, it reports that the national median rent ($1,309) is now $119 greater than where it projects it would have been if rent growth since the start of the pandemic had been in line with the…»

Home improvement retail giant Lowe’s Companies Inc. will be moving into a massive warehouse in southeast Mesa. A source familiar with the deal confirmed to the Business Journal that Lowe’s (NYSE: LOW) has signed a lease for 1.2 million square feet in the new industrial development at Pecos and Germann roads just south of the Phoenix-Mesa Gateway Airport. National real estate and development firm…»

Near-record December home sales cemented 2021 as the busiest year for home buying in the 14-year history of the RE/MAX National Housing Report, while also setting records for smallest inventory and highest average home prices. On an annual basis, 2021 finished with nearly 10% more home sales than the previous record year of 2020. And leading the nation was Phoenix, which saw median sales prices increase…»