Nonfarm payroll employment increased in 284 out of 372 metro areas (76%) between February 2010 and February 2011, decreased in 77 (21%) and remained flat in 11, the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported on Wednesday. AGC’s analysis of construction employment in 337 metro areas for which BLS provides data showed gains in 141 (42%), losses in 147 (44%) and no change in 49—the most widespread gains since late 2007. (BLS combines logging and mining with construction in most metros to avoid disclosing data about industries with few employers.) The largest 12-month percentage gains were in Battle Creek, Michigan, 17% (300 combined jobs); Elkhart-Goshen, Indiana, 21% (500 combined jobs); Houma-Bayou Cane-Thibodaux, Louisiana, 20% (1,000 construction jobs); Bangor, Maine, 18% (300 construction jobs); and Columbus, Indiana, 18% (200 combined jobs). The largest numbers of jobs were added in the Dallas-Plano-Irving metro division, 7,500 combined jobs (8%); Northern Virginia, 5,400 combined jobs (9%); Warren-Troy-Farmington Hills, Mich., division, 3,300 combined jobs (12%); Philadelphia city division, 3,200 combined jobs (6%); and Richmond, VA, 2,700 combined jobs (9%). The largest percentage losses were in Steubenville-Weirton, Ohio-West Virginia, -32% (-600 combined jobs); Prescott, Arizona, -16% (-700 combined jobs); and Yuma, Ariz., -15% (-400 combined jobs). The largest numbers of job losses were in Atlanta-Sandy Springs-Marietta, -9,400 construction jobs (-10%); New York City, -9,000 combined jobs (-8%); and Las Vegas-Paradise, -5,500 construction jobs (-12%).
Dell Inc. announced on Thursday that it will invest $1 billion worldwide in cloud computing centers in the next 12 months. “Over the next 24 months, Dell will build multiple highly efficient data centers around the world… Dell will open 12 Global Solution Centers this year and is planning 10 more over the next 18 months.” GE announced on Thursday, “GE plans to build an advanced-technology thin-film solar panel factory in the United States that, at capacity, will produce enough panels per year to power 80,000 homes annually. The 400-megawatt facility will be larger than any U.S. solar panel manufacturing plant in operation today and will employ 400 people. Multiple locations are being considered for the new facility, with the final location to be announced shortly.” In contrast, the Wall Street Journal reported on Tuesday, “Some major wind-turbine makers are cutting production at some factories. More than a year ago, Suzlon Energy Ltd., an Indian company that is one of the world’s biggest wind-turbine makers, began laying off workers at its plant in Pipestone, Minn., which makes blades for turbines…Suzlon also has postponed plans to build another U.S. factory, in Texas. Some wind-farm developers also are reconsidering expansion plans. The world’s biggest wind-power developer, Spain’s Iberdrola SA, announced last month it is halving wind-farming development plans for 2012.”
The Journal reported on Wednesday, “many of the nation’s apartment owners have ramped up construction. Home Properties Inc. said Tuesday it started a 314-unit community in Fredericksburg, Va., that should be finished by 2012. It also aims to break ground on a Maryland development later this year….The CoStar Group expects about 22,500 units to be added this year, followed by 94,600 in 2012 and more than 109,000 in 2013…landlords filled 44,000 more units than were vacant in the first quarter, the strongest first quarter in a decade.”
“Mall vacancies hit their highest level in at least 11 years in the first quarter, new figures from real-estate research company Reis Inc. showed,” the Journal reported on Thursday. In the top 80 U.S. markets, the average vacancy rate was 9.1%, up from 8.7%” in each quarter of 2010. “The outlook is especially bad for strip malls and other neighborhood shopping centers. Their vacancy rate is expected to top 11.1% later this year [the highest level since 1990], Reis predicts,” up from 10.9% in each of the past four quarters. “Not all retail properties have suffered as much, especially on the high end. Large, publicly traded mall owners like Simon Property Group Inc. and Taubman Centers Inc., which tend to own top-tier properties, have trimmed their vacancy rates to 7% or lower and lifted their lease rates in the past year, buoying their stock. But a broader glut has struck some of the exurbs that saw heavy housing development during the boom, where malls and strip centers built for growth that never came. More than one billion square feet of retail space was added in the 54 largest U.S. markets since the start of 2000, according to CoStar Group’s Property & Portfolio Research Inc. of Boston. In part, the decline reflects a continued drag on spending from the recession. But many retailers that had been stalwart mall- and strip-center tenants, like Borders Group Inc. and Blockbuster Inc., have floundered. Even successful chains have closed and shrank hundreds of stores as they retrenched. Additionally, the recession appears to have speeded a shift in habits that has more Americans shopping online. Online retailing surged to 12% of the total during the holidays.”
The national office vacancy rate “inched down slightly to 17.5% from 17.6% in the fourth quarter, which was the highest level in 17 years,” according to Reis data cited by the Journal on Tuesday. “Average effective rents, which include such benefits as free rent and interior work, rose by 0.5%...this marked the second consecutive quarter of rent increases and more evidence the industry has finally turned the corner after more than two years of dramatic rent and occupancy drops. However, rents are still well below the highs of 2008…Also, the improvement varies among regions. Among the 79 markets tracked by Reis, the nation’s capital continued to boast the lowest vacancy in the first quarter with a 9.2% rate. The District was followed by New York City at 10.7%....Detroit and Phoenix tied for the highest vacancy rates of 26.6%.”
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