The amount of vacant commercial space in metropolitan Columbia has declined slightly in the past three years, according to an annual report compiled by Paul Land, principal/owner of Plaza Commercial Realty.
Commercial vacancy rates have increased nationally as the economic downturn caused businesses to close and construction to stagnate, but Land’s report shows that Columbia’s vacancy rates actually declined in 2010 as the inventory stayed about the same and there was some business growth.
“While the first two quarters of the calendar year had many of the same characteristics and challenges of 2009, activity in the third quarter and the fourth quarter increased substantially,” Land wrote in his introduction. “This allowed for the market to achieve incremental improvements in actual occupancy levels for retail, office and industrial categories. This stabilization … was linked to the continued lack of speculative construction projects and price erosion relative to previous years.”
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