Canyon commercial R.E. market holds up in 2008 

Vacancy in Canyon County commercial buildings dropped in the retail category and held steady in office and industrial sectors from December 2007, the just-released Canyon County Commercial Real Estate Update said. Nampa-based Coldwell Banker Commercial Gunstream & Associates prepared the annual report for presentations to Nampa and Caldwell chamber of commerce luncheons.

Canyon County’s inventory of retail space showed positive absorption in 2008 and produced a 9.5 percent average vacancy rate at the end of the year, down a percentage point from 2007, a news release about the report said. Nampa’s eastern and western submarkets – home of the large, new Nampa Gateway development and the Karcher Mall area, respectively – showed the highest vacancy.

Office vacancy stands unchanged in Canyon County from a year ago at 11.3 percent. Downtown Caldwell’s central business district, and four separate submarkets in Nampa, showed the highest vacancy.

Industrial vacancy also held steady from late 2007 to late 2008, at 7.6 percent. Two buildings account for 23 percent of Canyon County’s vacant industrial space; vacancy would drop to 5.8 percent if these buildings were occupied, Coldwell Banker Commercial Gunstream & Associates reported. North Nampa and west Caldwell submarkets report the highest vacancy rates.

Available space totals 571,113 square feet in the retail category, 269,159 in the office category and 686,756 square feet in the industrial sector in the greater Nampa-Caldwell area. The report, titled, “Opportunity in Times of Economic Uncertainty,” covers 1,094 individual commercial buildings.

“In comparison to recent information released about commercial real estate in Ada County and areas within the metropolitan area, it appears that the vacancy statistics for Canyon County have ended the year more positive than the rest of the market,” Jerry Gunstream, president and owner of Coldwell Banker Commercial Gunstream & Associates, said in the release. “There is no doubt that the entire real estate industry is hurting. We know from our national resources that commercial real estate transactions are down as much as 75 percent nationally. We estimate that our metropolitan commercial market is similar.

Canyon County commercial development slowed throughout 2008 and commercial building sales stayed flat, Gunstream reported. However, more than 576,950 square feet of new retail, office and industrial space was completed in the county, and leasing activity remained somewhat resilient to keep occupancy statistics favorable.

Rents dropped throughout the year in all commercial property categories, and leasing incentives became popular for the first time in Canyon County, according to Coldwell Banker Commercial Gunstream & Associates. Land values adjusted downward due to past overpricing and current supply, the firm reported. Investment property sales were limited, with overall property values declining.

The full 2008-2009 Canyon County Commercial Real Estate update is available at Gunstream’s office, 172 2nd St. S., Nampa.  The firm’s Web site is www.cbcgunstream.com.

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