By Scott Nishimura snishimura@bizpress.net
Downtown rental housing maintained average occupancy of 95 percent in 2013, and days on market for owner-occupied downtown housing dropped by 55 percent, Downtown Fort Worth Inc. said Tuesday in releasing its 2013 State of Downtown Report.
Downtown also increased its Class A office space inventory by 8.5 percent. And the central business district employed more than 44,000 jobs with more than $2.6 billion in private payroll. “The amount of investment we are seeing in downtown is evidence that office users, hospitality professionals, residents, and others find downtown more attractive than ever,” Johnny Campbell, CEO of Sundance Square and DFWI executive committee member, said in a release accompanying the report. Some stats from the report:
- Employees who commute from outside downtown: 55,847
- Downtown residents who work downtown: 497
- Downtown residents who work somewhere else: 3,112
- Residences of downtown employees: Fort Worth, 19,055; Arlington, 4,924; Dallas, 1,818; North Richland Hills, 1,224; Mansfield, 886; Benbrook, 842; Haltom City, 821; Grand Prairie, 807; Burleson, 805; Bedford, 794; Keller, 720.
- Reason for living downtown: 42.5 percent chose lifestyle.
- Businesses: 1,468
- Largest business categories by numbers of businesses: Professional, scientific, and technical services, 376; finance and insurance, 241; other services, 104; accommodation and food, 92; mining, 87; healthcare, 86; administrative and support, 85; real estate, 84.
- Average private payroll per employee: $74,906
- Property taxes paid: $77.8 million
- Hotel taxes paid: $14.5 million
- Sales taxes paid, 2012, 12.3 percent of county: $88.9 million
- Gross sales, downtown industry, 2012: $2.9 billion
- Class A office buildings: 14, 5.46 million square feet, $29.23 average rent rates per square foot.
- Class A office occupancy: 82.9 percent
- Class B office buildings: 43, 3.7 million square feet, $20.58 average rents.
- All downtown office occupancy: 84.7 percent
- Downtown Dallas office occupancy: 74.5 percent
- Net office absorption: 132,000 square feet, compared to 2,600 in 2012.
- Multi-tenant office leasing to tenants of 4,000 square feet or less: more than 70 percent in 2012 and 2013.
- Class A office average rental rates: $29.23 per square foot, up 8.7 percent since 2011
- Downtown Dallas Class A office rent rates: $22.81
- Multifamily rental units nearing completion: 280
- Multifamily inventory, with those units: 2,526
- Average downtown housing rents: $1,662, up 1.5 percent
- Days on market for condos and town homes: 99 days
- Residential median sale price on MLS: $190,000, down from $212,000 in 2012.
- Hotel occupancy: 67.3 percent, compared to national average 62.3 percent.
- Hotel revenue per available room: $104.95, compared to national average $68.69.
- Percent of Fort Worth hotel rooms downtown: 20 percent
- Percent of Fort Worth hotel occupancy taxes downtown: More than 40 percent
- Retail occupancies: 93 percent in existing space
- Average retail rents: $22.69 per square foot
- Gross retail sales change, 2Q 2013 over 2Q 2012: 4.8 percent
- Gross sales change, drinking places, 2Q 2013 over 2Q 2012: 12.3 percent
- Cumulative value building permits, 2003-2013: $1.4 billion