Houston's Office Market Posts Positive Net Absorption for the First Time In
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Research & Forecast Report HOUSTON | OFFICE Q4 2017 Houston’s office market posts positive net absorption for the first time in several years Lisa Bridges Director of Market Research | Houston After six straight quarters of negative net absorption, Houston’s office market posts 673,000 SF of positive net absorption in Q4 Market Indicators Annual Quarterly Quarterly 2017. Although positive, Houston’s office market 2017 year-end Relative to prior period Change Change Forecast* absorption total is still well within the red, at negative 1.7M SF. After three years in an economic energy slump, Houston’s office VACANCY market is ready for a boost. Even though oil prices have recently NET ABSORPTION increased, the increase is not enough to spur hiring sprees in the energy industry. With the recent increase in oil prices the U.S. NEW CONSTRUCTION Energy Information Administration (EIA) has revised it’s forecast UNDER CONSTRUCTION for world oil demand in 2018 by 100,000 barrels per day. Although Brent crude prices are up to $64 per barrel, the highest price since *Projected November 2014, it’s not enough to accelerate leasing of vacant office space. Recent news articles indicate that some of the large energy giants reported profits in the fourth quarter. However, profits were largely driven by continued lean budgets and staff reductions. Summary Statistics Houston Office Market Q4 2016 Q3 2017 Q4 2017 Developers have shown restraint over the past few years, only starting projects with a lead tenant guaranteed. A handful of Vacancy Rate 17.5% 19.3% 19.1% planned buildings broke ground this past year with lead tenants in place including Bank of America, American Bureau of Shipping and Net Absorption (Million Square Feet) -0.1 -0.8 0.7 HP. Once these projects deliver, those companies will vacate their existing space, leaving more than 1 million square feet for landlords New Construction (Million Square Feet) 0 0.2 0.5 to backfill. Under Construction 3.1 2.2 1.1 In August 2017, Houston faced one of the worst natural disasters (Million Square Feet) in history. Hurricane Harvey, a Category 4 hurricane, slammed the Class A Vacancy Rate Texas coast and dumped over 50 inches of rain in parts of Houston. CBD 13.4% 18.3% 18.5% The event caused widespread flooding, destroying homes, Suburban 19.7% 21.9% 21.3% businesses and infrastructure. This was a temporary set-back Asking Rents for many, but has had permanent ramifications for others. A joint Per Square Foot Per Year industry survey confirmed that less than 7% of Houston’s office inventory suffered damage. Of that amount, the majority have Houston Class A $35.35 $35.31 $34.97 been repaired and back in operation with a handful of buildings still CBD Class A $44.64 $44.36 $44.37 undergoing repair. Suburban Class A $32.78 $32.92 $32.33 According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Houston MSA created 48,500 jobs (not seasonally adjusted) between November 2016 and November 2017, an annual growth rate of 1.6%, which is above than the national averages job growth rate of 1.5%. Share or view online at colliers.com/texas/houstonoffice Vacancy & Availability Job Growth & Unemployment (not seasonally adjusted) Houston’s citywide vacancy rate decreased 20 basis points from 19.3% to 19.1% over the quarter and rose 150 basis points from 17.5% in Q4 2016. Over the UNEMPLOYMENT 11/16 11/17 quarter, the average suburban vacancy rate decreased 20 basis points from 18.9% to 18.7% and the average CBD vacancy rate increased 20 basis points from HOUSTON 5.2% 4.3% 20.4% to 20.6%. TEXAS 4.5% 3.7% The average CBD Class A and Class B vacancy rates increased 20 basis points U.S. 4.4% 3.9% over the quarter from 18.3% to 18.5% and from 28.2% to 28.4%, respectively. The average suburban Class A vacancy rate decreased 60 basis points from 21.9% to 21.3% between quarters, while the average suburban Class B vacancy Annual # of Jobs JOB GROWTH Change Added rate rose 10 basis from 16.7% to 16.8%. HOUSTON 1.6% 48.5K Of the 1,709 existing office buildings in our survey, 86 buildings have 100,000 SF 2.7% 331.6K or more of contiguous space available for lease or sublease. Further, 24 buildings TEXAS have 200,000 SF or more of contiguous space available. Citywide, available U.S. 1.5% 2.1M sublease space totals 8.8 million SF, or 3.8% of Houston’s total office inventory. Available space differs from vacant space, in that it includes space that is currently being marketed for lease and may be occupied with a future availability date. Whereas vacant space is truly vacant and is and may still be immediately CBD vs. Suburban available. CLASS A OFFICE VACANCY HISTORICAL AVAILABLE SUBLEASE SPACE 25.0% CBD Suburban Houston Total 20.0% 14,000,000 12,000,000 10,000,000 15.0% 8,000,000 6,000,000 10.0% 4,000,000 2,000,000 5.0% 0 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 Q1 Q2 Q3 Q4 2014 2014 2015 2015 2015 2015 2016 2016 2016 2016 2017 2017 2017 2017 0.0% AVAILABLE SUBLEASE SPACE - 150,000 SF OR GREATER CBD Vacancy Suburban Vacancy Large Sublease Availabilities (Total available in building and/or complex) BUILDING TENANT SUBMARKET SF CLASS A OFFICE RENTS Four WestLake Park BP Katy Freeway 504,327 $50.00 Two Allen Center Chevron CBD 396,309 $45.00 1100 Louisiana Enbridge CBD 294,580 $40.00 Three Greenspoint Place ExxonMobil North Belt 253,562 $35.00 One Shell Plaza Shell Oil CBD 229,140 $30.00 Three WestLake Park Phillips 66 Katy Freeway 221,723 $25.00 8 Greenspoint ExxonMobil North Belt 198,256 $20.00 10777 Clay Rd AMEC Foster Wheeler Katy Freeway 189,285 $15.00 Energy Center I Foster Wheeler Katy Freeway 182,966 $10.00 Four Oaks Place BHP West Loop/Galleria 180,343 $5.00 West Memorial Place II IHI E&C Katy Freeway 158,317 $0.00 CityWestPlace 2 Statoil Westchase 154,887 Three Northborough FMC Technologies North Belt 151,372 Source: CoStar CBD Rents Suburban Rents 2 Houston Research & Forecast Report | Q4 2017 | Office | Colliers International Absorption & Demand Houston’s office market posted 673,545 SF of positive net absorption in Q4 2017. CBD Class A space recorded the largest loss, with 72,517 SF of negative net absorption, while Suburban Class A posted the largest gain with 767,203 SF of positive net absorption. Some of the tenants that moved during the quarter include McDermott International (186,962 SF) in the West Belt submarket, Targa Resources Corp. (128,600 SF) in the CBD submarket, Lockton Companies (116,250 SF) in the Westchase submarket and Empyrean Benefit Solutions, Inc. (106,904 SF) in the Westchase submarket. The large amount of sublease space placed on the market during the energy downturn has steadily decreased over the last five quarters from 11.8M SF to 8.8M SF. The majority of the available sublease space has less than three years of term remaining. Rental Rates Houston’s average Class A asking rental rate decreased over the quarter from $35.31 per SF to $34.97 per SF. The average Class A rental rate in the CBD remained steady over the quarter at $44.37 per SF, while the average Suburban Class A rental rate decreased from $32.92 to $32.33 per SF. The current average rental rate, which includes all property classes, for Houston office space is $29.22 per SF gross. Leasing Activity Houston’s office leasing activity increased 17% over the quarter, rising from 3.0 million SF in Q3 2017 to 3.5 million SF in Q4 2017. A majority of the leasing activity was caused by renewals, but there were some tenants that needed short-term sublease space while their current lease space is rebuilt due to damage caused by Hurricane Harvey. Q4 2017 Select Office Lease Transactions BUILDING NAME/ADDRESS SUBMARKET SF TENANT LEASE DATE Two Allen Center CBD 200,000 Saudi Aramco4 Oct-17 1360 Post Oak Blvd West Loop/Galleria 156,151 Stewart Title4 Nov-17 Three Allen Center CBD 98,000 Talos Energy1 Dec-17 Bank of America Center CBD 82,916 TransCanada3 Oct-17 Two Allen Center CBD 55,178 Chamberlain Hrdlicka2 Oct-17 LyondellBasell Tower CBD 48,233 Beck Redden2 Nov-17 1New/Direct 2Renewal 3Expansion 4Sublease Sales Activity Houston’s office investment sales activity grew substantially over the year, rising by 54% since Q4 2016. With most of the investor community believing the downturn in the energy industry has reached the bottom and has begun to rebound, they now see Houston as offering limited downside and the potential for healthy returns. The average sales price per square foot increased from $199 to $245 per SF over the quarter and rose significantly over the year by 86%. Q4 2017 CHANGE IN SALES (YEAR OVER YEAR) Q4 2017 OFFICE SALES PRICE PER SF 600.0% $300 500.0% $250 400.0% $200 300.0% 200.0% $150 100.0% $100 0.0% $50 -100.0% -200.0% 0 Q4 '13 Q4 '14 Q4 '15 Q4 '16 Q47 '17 Q4 '13 Q4 '14 Q4 '15 Q4 '16 Q4 '17 Sources: CoStar and Real Capital Analytics 3 Houston Research & Forecast Report | Q4 2017 | Office | Colliers International Houston Office Market Summary (CBD, Suburban, & Overall) SUBLEASE NET ABSORPTION RENTAL INVENTORY DIRECT VACANCY VACANCY VACANCY RATE (%) VACANCY (SF) RATE # OF RATE RATE TOTAL AVG CLASS TOTAL (SF) (SF) (SF) Q4-2017 Q3-2017 Q4-2017 Q3-2017 BLDGS.