Slow Rebound, Higher Occupancy In 2013, Liberty Predicts

MALVERN PA – Liberty Property Trust, whose commercial real estate portfolio consists of 650 office, distribution and light manufacturing properties that serve 1,800 tenants, said Tuesday (Dec. 11, 2012) that although it expects economic conditions during 2013 to slowly improve there may be few acquisition opportunities.

In his forecast for the coming year, Liberty CEO Bill Hankowsky said:

“In developing guidance for 2013, we have assumed that the economic recovery will continue to slowly improve. We expect occupancy to increase for both our office and industrial portfolios. We believe that market rents have bottomed in both office and industrial, but we are still experiencing roll-downs in rents in our office portfolio as we release space previously leased at height-of-the-market rates. At this point, acquisition opportunities are scarce and we expect our external growth to be primarily through development. We should continue to benefit from increased development opportunities as new space is required to satisfy pent-up demand and changes in how companies are doing business.”

This article was cross-posted to PolleyNJ.com
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