The commercial real estate investment and services company, CBRE , reported that from January to September 2024, the net absorption of the Mexican Bajío region reached 540 thousand square meters (m2) , a figure that almost doubles that of the same period in 2023, while the commercialization of spaces or gross demand was 722 thousand m2 , which was mainly driven by land sale transactions, and the expansion of companies already established in the region.
In its MarketView report on the Bajío industrial real estate sector in the third quarter of 2024 (3Q24) , the firm noted that construction activity closed the third quarter with 612 thousand m2 under development, of which 30% is pre-leased.
He also indicated that demand for industrial space by tenants in the automotive and light manufacturing industries , which account for more than half of the demand, continues, and that figure is expected to remain high due to current negotiations.
According to information from the Ministry of Economy , during the first half of 2024 (1H24), the entities that make up the Bajío, that is, Aguascalientes, Guanajuato, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, totaled three thousand 688 million dollars of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) , with Guanajuato and San Luis Potosí being the largest recipients in the region.
“The Bajío region has been characterized by having an important automotive cluster. Automotive plants have been established in all four states, which have boosted the commercialization of industrial spaces,” said Rodrigo Folgueras, vice president of CBRE Mexico in the Bajío region.
At the close of 3Q24, Querétaro led gross demand with 41% , driven by diverse manufacturing tenant transactions. Meanwhile, Guanajuato was the second market with the highest gross absorption with 28% of the commercialization activity ; San Luis Potosí was in third position with 19% of the gross absorption driven by land sale transactions, CBRE reported.
In turn, the vacancy rate or availability remained with downward variations, since it closed said period at 3.4%, slightly lower compared to the same period in 2023, when it was 4.2 percent.
CBRE stated that construction activity has been characterized by the development of Build to Suit projects, closing 3Q24 with just over 612 thousand m2 under development , of which 30% are projects with these characteristics and are already pre-leased.
Developers have begun speculative building as demand is expected from industrial tenants in both light manufacturing and automotive. Light manufacturing and the automotive industry are expected to demand industrial space in the region, attracted by the logistical advantages, skilled workforce, as well as the infrastructure of industrial parks in the Bajío.
At the end of the period, the Bajío closed with an inventory of 14.1 million m2 , which represented an annual increase of 5%, with Querétaro and Guanajuato as the markets with the greatest inventory growth, being the first in which more than half of the new supply was concentrated from January to September 2024. 3Q24 closed with 612 thousand m2 of construction activity for delivery in the following six months.
Meanwhile, the vacancy rate closed at 3.4% in 3Q24, which was 0.9% less than at the end of 3Q23.
Due to the shortage of supply in markets in the north of the country, the Bajío continues to represent an opportunity for investors and companies looking for industrial space as a result of the relocation of companies in Mexico ( nearshoring ).
In addition, the dynamism of the automotive and light manufacturing sectors continues to drive the growing demand for industrial real estate in this region of Mexico.
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