Salt Lake City Office Market
| Average Actual Rent (Price/SF) | $25.37 |
| Vacancy Rate (%) | 10.0% |
| Net Absorption (SF) | -307,863 |
The Salt Lake County office market started to experience some of the lagging effects of COVID-19’s impact during the first quarter of 2021. The Salt Lake Metro overall has rebounded very quickly with unemployment already below 4% (3.6% at end of February 2021), more businesses open with safety measures in place and nearly 25% of the state’s population vaccinated. Despite all that good news, forward traction for office transactions has slowed. Large blocks of space that would have likely leased quickly before becoming vacant are now taking longer to fill as companies decide how to move forward with office plans. Many office users are still having employees working remote through first-quarter 2021 with plans to bring them back to the office sometime in 2021. Due to the delay in bringing employees back, that is also delaying many companies from looking to move or expand footprints.
Salt Lake City Industrial Market
| Average Actual Rent (Price/SF) | $.61 |
| Vacancy Rate (%) | 3.8% |
| Net Absorption (SF) | 752,910 |
Occupier demand for new industrial space drove the square footage under construction to a market high of 9.5 million square feet in the first quarter of 2021, with just over 42.5% of this space already pre-committed. Net absorption measured just over 750,000 square feet for the quarter, which was the second-best first quarter for positive net absorption historically. The delivery of over 825,000 square feet of new industrial product in first-quarter 2021 did little to relieve the demand for space. The direct vacancy remained essentially flat between fourth-quarter 2020 and first-quarter 2021, ticking up just four basis points. Both asking and achieved first-year average rates posted substantial increases of 13.0% and 5.2% year over year, respectively, and the average owner-user sale price per square foot increased a precipitous 30.9% year over year, to $133.58/SF. Investors continue to be bullish on the industrial asset type in Salt Lake County, and most of the larger sales are occurring off market.
Download Salt Lake City Industrial Market Report 1Q21