A PInautshee action
Palm Beach County has been hit hard by the residential
crisis and as the effects on the capital market and economic recession trickle into the commercial real estate
sector, its two major markets, West Palm Beach and Boca
Raton, are experiencing some market stagnation and rising vacancies. But have no fear, local professionals say: the county
that enjoys the highest median
By Crystal Proenza household income in South
Florida also maintains the lowest
industrial vacancies in the state, climbing office rents and a
strong retail sector that won’t be down for long.
Transactions have slowed in Boca and West Palm, similar to
much of South Florida, because of a disconnect between own-
ers looking for last year’s prices and buyers looking for this
year’s deals. There is a noticeable hesitation in the market, according to local experts, as companies wait to see where the
economy will go next.
There is also a more conservative outlook in terms of commercial acquisitions, says Ed Kearney, managing director for
West Palm Beach-based Sperry Van Ness/Kearney Commercial Realty Inc. “In the past, investors have looked for 8% to
11% return over the long term,” he says.
Kearney points out that those projections were based on full
occupancy. “Now with the downturn in the economy and problems in residential,” he says, “there is an enormous flow-through problem.”
