The Milwaukee area’s industrial real estate vacancy rate is at 9.0 percent, but vacancy rates are lower in Waukesha County, according to Brookfield-based NAI MLG Commercial‘s first quarter 2009 industrial market forecast.
The four submarkets with the lowest vacancy rates are all in Waukesha County, according to the report, with the southwestern portion of the county posting a 3.3 percent vacancy rate, the northwestern portion posting a 5.0 percent vacancy rate, the northeast corner is at 5.3 percent and the southeast corner is at 5.9 percent.
The Waukesha-northwest submarket, "is a solid market due to the amount of business owners living in the community, known as ‘Lake Country,’ because they are moving their companies near their homes," the report says.
The highest industrial space vacancy rates are in Milwaukee County, led by 21.5 percent vacancy in the north central submarket and 13.2 percent in the south submarket.
The Milwaukee north central market has a high vacancy rate because of higher crime rates in the area and the fact that the majority of buildings on the market are older or obsolete, the report says.
The Milwaukee south market includes Franklin and Oak Creek, where several industrial buildings were built on speculation and recent years.
