‘A tenant’s market’ in Broward, CBRE report says

Office space in Broward County, Fla., dropped in the first quarter to a vacancy rate of 18.6 percent while retail and industrial space vacancy hovered around 8 percent, according to a CBRE research report released today.

The county north of Miami-Dade saw new tenants absorb 118,000 square feet of additional office space since January, but construction remained at historic lows, with no projects starting in the first quarter of 2013.

It’s a tenant’s market for office space in Broward, the report said.

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“With asking rates on the rise, the market is still experiencing historically low rental rates,” the report said. Exploiting these low rates, tenants are trading up to luxury office space, reducing demand for other properties.

A southwest corner of Broward buzzed with 400,000 square feet of new construction of industrial buildings, and 140,000 square feet were absorbed in the first quarter.

Retail decreased slightly from a year ago, with Wal-Mart planning to build 200,000 square feet in southwest Broward County this year.