Q2 2015 Houston Retail Market Research Report

Houston’s retail market leasing activity declines in Q2 due to limited available space 

During the second quarter, 933,719 SF of Houston’s retail inventory was absorbed, slightly more than the 837,255 SF from the previous quarter.  Retail leasing activity decreased, reaching 1.0M SF, a decrease of 30.0% from the 1.3M SF leased in Q1 2015.  The decline in leasing activity is due to a lack of available space as Houston only has 5.8% vacancy factor.  

Over 1.1M SF of new inventory delivered during the second quarter and 87.1% of the new product is pre-leased.  Houston’s retail construction pipeline totals 1.9M SF and 78.0% is pre-leased.  

Houston’s average retail vacancy rate decreased slightly from 6.0% to 5.8% between quarters, and decreased from 6.2% over the past year. The citywide average quoted retail rental rate increased 1.5% between quarters from $15.08 to $15.30 per SF NNN.  The average rate has increased 2.3% on a year-over-year basis from $14.96 per SF NNN.

The Houston metropolitan area created 62,300 jobs between May 2014 and May 2015, an annual increase of 2.1% over the prior year’s job growth. Sectors creating most of the jobs contributing to the annual increase include Retail Trade, Transportation, Warehousing and Utilities (mostly due to truck and pipeline transportation), Accommodation & Food Services, Arts, Entertainment & Recreation, and Health Care & Social Assistance.

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