Import Volume and Industrial Absorption

Today I had a presentation going over some of the first quarter industrial statistics.

Here is a recap:

First Quarter 2009 MARKET STATISTICS

• Total Square Feet in the Market: 1.35 Billion SF – Largest Industrial
  Market In The U.S.A.
• Total Vacancy Rate at 7.2% - Below the national average of 9.5%
• Total YTD Sales & Leasing Activity – 15 million SF (Down 15.8% from Q1
  2008, Down 40.3% from Q1 2007)
• Net absorption was -7.5 million SF, was -0.3 million in Q1 2008, was +4.7
  million in Q1 2007
• Total YTD New Construction of just 3.6 Million SF (Down 26.9% from Q1
  2008, Down 53% from Q1 2007)
• Weighted Avg. Asking Lease Rate: $0.47 PSF per month NNN (Down from
  $0.55 in Q1 2008, Down from $0.59 in Q1 2007).

One thing that everyone liked was the relationship chart I created that compares quarterly change in import vs. the change in occupied SF (industrial absorption)

Basically, for every container imported into the Ports of Los Angeles / Long Beach will bring with it industrial demand equal to 53 SF.

I think I will break this apart further to see the relationship between the large distribution / warehouse space, since this property type is more dependant on imports than the smaller spaces.