Matt Epple, executive vice president and director of brokerage for Weitzman Austin, discussed the metro’s retail market.
Q. Where does occupancy stand at mid-year?
Austin’s retail market reported a stabilized occupancy rate of 95.2 percent, thanks to a notable increase in demand for retail and restaurant space, which is helping absorb well-located vacancies on the market. We also see extremely limited construction that comes online significantly or fully leased.
How limited is construction?
After reaching as high as 4 million square feet in the mid-2000s, Austin for 2021 is on track to add only 475,000 square feet of retail space in new and expanded projects.
What is your take for the rest of 2021?
Austin’s economy is really growing. Therefore, we expect to see retail improvement through 2021 and a return to the pre-pandemic occupancy and overall economic health for 2022.
This Q&A originally ran in Connect Texas CRE
