New Haven has lowest residential vacancy rates in the country in 2013

As of the end of 2013, New Haven had the lowest apartment vacancy rate of the 79 cities followed by Reis Inc.   New Haven's vacancy rate was 2.2%, down from 2.6% one year before.  There are many reasons for this, including the large student population, especially in graduate schools, which have very little campus housing.  Also, its location on a major rail line makes New Haven a great place for people who work between New Haven and NYC to live, considering the ease of commuting and the amenities and nightlife offered in the city, particularly for young professionals.  In addition, the high cost of housing means that more people will choose to rent instead of buy, pushing up demand in the rental sector. Average rents in the area were $1154/month last year.  Hartford was the sixth tightest market in the survey.

What does this mean for commercial real estate?  Retail and office follow housing, since people living in a region demand services and often choose more convenient work environments.  In New Haven, we are seeing a major suburban employer, Alexion, moving downtown, both for the proximity to Yale and Yale Medical School, and for the benefits employees have for lunchtime and after-work dining, shopping, and entertainment.  Also, younger employees will usually choose an urban setting when possible.  Given the number of hours we all spend at work these days, having the ability to do errands or grab a meal is a plus for most people, and retail uses will prosper with higher levels of renters, especially since those renters are disproportionately clustered at the empty nester and young professional ends of the housing cycle, both of which are groups that eat out and go to events more often than suburban parents with children.  One study quoted to me claimed that approximately 30 jobs in the service sector are created for each high-income renter downtown.  New Haven still is under-retailed, according to national statistics, so this creates an opportunity for real estate investors and owners.  Please call any one of our commercial associates, if we can assist you in prospering from this market condition.

Lenders More Bullish on Commercial Real Estate

We have clearly seen recently that there is much stronger demand by users for real estate of all types. What's been holding people back, in many cases, is the feeling--or reality--that they cannot get financing.  That was driven in part by the huge amounts of capital tied up in notes of various types that came due in the last couple of years.  For whatever reason, or a combination of reasons, that seems to be changing.

Reports in all kinds of publications have been saying that lenders have a greater appetite for commercial real estate loans.  That would make sense, since we all think that the market, and the values, are improving. What that means is that prices will soon start to rise, as activity climbs and users look for product.

What does that mean for buyers?  Buy now, before supply dries up and prices increase.  What does that mean for sellers?  Good news.  Your properties just got a whole lot easier to sell!

Puppet Theater Mania

Today's New Haven Register has a front-page article about our new listing of the Stony Creek Puppet House. It's an old property, beloved by many, that has produced different types of theater on and off over the years.  It needs a lot of loving care to be restored, but there are many people who hope that that will happen.

The attention that led to its being on the front page shows that there is still interest in real estate of various types, and the secret is in connecting the buyers and sellers of such property.  Obviously, we don't always get a spot on the front page of the paper to help us along, but the puppet theater is an investment property, and those have proven to be popular in any kind of market.

We've gotten calls already on the puppet theater from the sign, which means that local people are seeing it as something worth checking on.  Now that it's been more broadly advertised, we should receive even more calls.   If you have an investment property of any type, now is the time to expose it to the market.  There are buyers out there, looking for alternatives to stocks and bonds.