Two Studies Differ : Inland Empire Leasing Activity Outpaces 1985

The Inland Empire did great last year, but just how great depends on which study you read.

Robert Dunham, president of the Newport Economics Group, Newport Beach, said office and industrial space leasing activity was up 63% compared to 1985, while Coldwell Banker Commercial Real Estate Services reported that the absorption of office space was up 69% over 1985.

Dunham said the inventory of office and industrial space totaled 31.6 million square feet at the end of 1986--up 50% from 1985. He added that the overall vacancy rate was 18%, not unusual for a rapidly growing area with high annual absorption in relation to a small existing inventory.

Coldwell Banker said that the region’s industrial vacancy rate was 14.2% compared to 21% in 1985.

The two surveys did, however, agree that the Inland Empire consists of Riverside and San Bernardino counties.