COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE SIZZLING IN COUNTY

Combine a recovering economy with little new construction, and Palm Beach County’s commercial properties are the fullest they’ve been in years.

According to commercial real estate brokerage Colliers International, vacancy rates are venturing into microscopic levels.

In perhaps the hottest corner of commercial real estate, the county’s industrial vacancy rate plunged to 3 percent in the third quarter of 2017, down from 6 percent during the same period in 2014.

In the office market, countywide vacancy stood at 11.5 percent as of Sept. 30, down from 15 percent in early 2015. The average asking rent rose to $29.07 per square foot, up from $27.75 in the third quarter of 2016. For Class A space, the average rose to $33.86 a foot.

Even the beleaguered retail market, hampered as it is by shrinking retailers, is doing well. Palm Beach County shopping centers were just 4.4 percent empty, down from 6.4 percent in early 2015. Retail rents are rising, hitting an average of $20.48 in the third quarter, up from $19 a year earlier.

Boca Raton is an especially hot retail market, Colliers International said, combining low vacancy rates with steep rents. The average retail rent in the area Colliers calls Boca Raton East rose to $27.67 per square foot, while Boca Raton West commanded $33.10 per foot and Boca Raton North fetched $35.80 per foot.