Riverside-San Bernardino Retail Market Report

Existing stock benefits from a well-leased pipeline. The epicenter of Southern California population growth, the Inland Empire is registering encouraging tenant demand from a historical standpoint, despite vacancy that exceeds the national and statewide mean. During the 12-month stretch ended in March, 1.5 million square feet was absorbed on a net basis across the two-county metro, the largest tally among major West Coast markets. This leasing velocity placed vacancy 170 basis points below the metro’s long-term average. Tight conditions are fostering demand for newly-built space, with more than 70 percent of the active pipeline accounted for steering prospective tenants to existing floor plans. This dynamic is especially glaring in the metro’s five most-populated cities — Riverside, San Bernardino, Fontana, Ontario and Moreno Valley — where less than 25,000 square feet of ongoing space was available as of May.