High Vacancy Rates Leading to Excess Office Space

By Andre Nixon

Job Vacancy Indonesia, Employee, Vacancy 

There is currently an excess of office space in Las Vegas leading to a high rate of vacancy. The rates are in the range of 17 to 19% which is very high. The financial meltdown in U.S had affected the real estate domain pretty badly, leading to shrinkage in demand of office space in Las Vegas. In the year 2008, the work space required touched a low figure of 637,800 square feet. People need to wait till the end of 2010 for the vacancy rates to get lower and approach the normal rate of 10%. New office products are already being visible online in the current year which is a healthy change from the past year. With so much work space lying vacant, the construction work of many executive office suites has naturally been kept on hold.

The vacancy rates have already started to decrease and new employment opportunities are being created gradually. With the currently pending constructions works again being started, one can expect many of the ongoing projects to be completed within the next 9 to 12 months. The market is thereby expected to stabilize along with recovery in all the major industrial and financial domains. With the prevailing uncertainty, offices owned by banks are involved in most of the sales being done now. Banks are also trying to seize this opportunity by concentrating on sale of office space in Las Vegas. They are enhancing their portfolios with competition from the private players being less. The private bodies / individuals are waiting for the situation to be better.

It is worth mentioning that in 2008 the commercial real-estate markets were facing a major credit crunch. But in the current financial year, the previously hesitant financial institutions are offering real-estate loans to those possessing adequate quantity of equity and having a good credit / business history. Currently the credit card companies are following a safety-first approach and keeping their money intact. The earlier they start relaxing this approach the faster can the business recovery in office rental and office space be achieved. The average rental charge of office space in Las Vegas is about $2.5 per square foot. Many projects have already been completed, like the 65,000 square-feet Hughes Airport Center, the 144,300 square-feet Eastgate Plaza II (Houston), etc.

Commercial offices are right now apprehensive of buying any office properties and are rather willing to get office space on lease. With every passing day, one can notice an improvement in the housing market situation. Executive office suites are mainly being provided in Henderson, Summerlin, Central Vegas, and near the airport. The highest vacancy rate was noticed in the northern part of Las Vegas with figures touching an abysmal 31.6%. Although any category and size of business can get office space in Las Vegas, commercial / business real estate is not much in demand in downtown Las Vegas. Shared office space, temporary work space, furnished units, serviced units are all provided in Las Vegas by the real estate agents / brokers. Monthly and short-term lease options are being preferred by businesses rather than long-term leases.