Report: Little Rock metro office, retail vacancy rates improve in Q4

Commercial real estate firm Colliers Arkansas said the retail sector of the state’s largest metro market ended the year with the best overall improvement in vacancy rates.

The company’s latest quarterly report showed that the retail market began the year with a 13.2% vacancy rate and ended on a high note in Q4 at 10.1%

The report also revealed that the industrial sector saw the biggest leases and multifamily transactions continue to top the sales charts.

“Throughout 2022, the central Arkansas commercial real estate market enjoyed a steady decline in vacancy rates throughout the office and industrial sectors,” Colliers said in the report. “By contrast, industrial flex space and the retail sector experienced a few more ups and downs.”

Colliers analysts said the office market started the year with a 14.1% vacancy rate and ended it with a 13.2% vacancy rate.

“A handful of large sales in Q4 — including First Security Bank’s purchase of the 286,654-square-foot FIS campus — contributed to the decline,” the report said.

The industrial vacancy rate rose just 0.2% from Q3 but continued the overall downward trend from the beginning of the year.

“With vacancy rates at record lows and few options above 20,000 square feet available in the market, it comes as no surprise that proposed under-construction and industrial developments are poised to add more than 1.6 million square feet to the market,” Colliers analysts reported.

Colliers has Arkansas offices in Little Rock and Rogers. For a more detailed analysis of each submarket in central Arkansas’ commercial real estate market, click here for a PDF.