CAPTEX COMMERCIAL PROPERTIES

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Welcome to Captex Commercial Properties

We have been actively serving the Central Texas real estate community, under one name or another, for over 30 years through good times and bad. We specialize in the leasing, brokerage and management of commercial and investment properties. Our clients are assured of the highest levels of customer service and integrity. Fro more about us, please check out our about page.

Regardless of your requirements we are prepared to help provide the solutions that meet your needs. Please let us know how we may be of service to you. For our current listings, please see our FOR SALE PAGE, our FOR LEASE PAGE, and our NEEDS PAGE. However, please do call, because we may have some items not listed. 512.527.9600

Thanks for your interest in Captex Commercial Properties, we look forward to hearing from you soon.
>> Bill Oates, CCIM

Office Space in Demand in Austin. TX

After much debate about the future of office space post covid, including some doom saying about the trend or work from home, office space is in high demand in downtown Austin.

Of course, the trend toward remote working was accelerated by the shutdown. Of course, the shutdown exacerbated the poor economy in some places. The same phenomenon, however, accelerated the trends of tech growth and migration to Texas.

The silicon hills continued construction and high tech startups and behemoths alike continued making plans to move in. Elon Musk, fed up with California’s strictures, purchased a large chunk of land in East Austin. Rumor has it that not one but two companies of his will be relocating here.

While it might be a short while until the contraction from wfm is balanced by economic growth in other markets, in Austin all trends are upward. Downtown Austin continues to see mixed use towers built with dizzying magnitude. Valuations are skyrocketing around the metro area. Most rich ,however, is that now some downtown office rents top those of Manhattan.

Colliers reported during the end of 2020 on Austin office space. Read it here.

The Austin American Statesman addressed this issue just a few days ago. Read it here.

CBRE gives a more numerical report. Demand is on the upswing, but there is still availability. Read it here.

Experts Weigh Austin’s Future

Panelist discuss the future of Austin’s real estate. It is clear that Austin is a bright star in the country. However, it may be that affordability will continue to be a challenge for a long time in the future. However, from an investor’s point of view, that does mean that prices are not expected to go down. Not in Austin.

Check out ABJ’s report of the panel discussion.

For comparison’s sake, here is CCIM’s expert’s view.

Expert Prediction: Texas Will Grow

I am not real big on predictions. I leave that to professors and marketers, Mostly. I’ve been around long enough to not get too excited about talk. However, we all know that the best collection of data around on real estate is the Texas A&M Research Center. Jim Gaines is there now, with a lifetime experience in being a real estate professor and consultant. So, he is probably the best predictor.

The Houston Chronicle got him to make predictions about real estate going forward in the state of Texas, and Houston in particular. He had lots of interesting answers. See article ” Where Texas !&M Economist, Jim Gaines, Sees RE Ups and Downs in the Year Ahead

He started out by saying that no economist can predict what will happen in this environment, because no one has ever seen a situation like the one we are coming out of. Economists are talking about job growth between 5 and 7% — an unusually large range. In short, we will probably get back to pre-covid levels. Maybe we will do a little better than that.

He predicts that the market desire for single family houses,stoked by the shut down, will persist all year. Construction might be catching up then, and the eviction moratoria may be ending about the same time. The number of foreclosures will probably not be overwhelming. The market might smooth out.

Gaines thinks it might be too early to tell what will happene with commercial real estate, like office, retail, and hospitality. There will be some return to “normalcy” but likely there will be significantly more remote work and virtual shopping. Still, Gaines opines that humans are congregate animals. We will continue to want to get together and try on shoes.

In big picture perspective, institutions probably won’t be able to swoop in on distressed properties like they did in the 1980s. or 2009. The Fed will be very very hard pressed to raise interest rates. As this will cause compression of cap rates, buyers will demand lower prices.

Fewer office buildings will be built in the near term. At the moment, there is an excess of spec space in Houston, so there will be some time until the market evens out. Vacancy rates for CRE will be a short-term problems.

When pressed for a comparison of the near-term future and 2019, Gaines gives the fairly safe prediction: Texas will continue to be a growth state. That looks like a fairly safe bet to me, too.

Previous article on skyrocketing of population and valuations click here

More recent article on same topic. click here.