(Editor’s note: News releases are published unedited, unless they contain factual errors.)
For the first half of 2017, the retail market in Phoenix has recorded continued improvement in both vacancy and leasing activity (absorption). The current overall vacancy rate is 9.3 percent, with all but one of the regional trade areas with single-digit vacancy, according to a report from Velocity Retail Group.
Leasing activity for the first two quarters is nearly 900,000 square feet. This pace will be on track to finish 2017 with nearly 2 million square feet of space leased, which is nearly double that of 2014 and 2015. Strong leasing activity and little speculative new construction are bringing the vacancy rate down. Five years ago, the vacancy rate was 200 basis points higher at 11.3 percent.
