The city of Monterrey has managed to capture an important part of the resources generated by the T-Mec in industrial real estate investments, where it has positioned itself in first place at the national level, during the first eight months of the year.

As a complement to this industrial offer, companies require corporate spaces where they can carry out commercial and administrative activities that often must be located in areas other than where their plants are located.

This market prior to the pandemic had about 1.1 million square meters of inventory and at the end of 3Q 2021 this indicator reflects an increase of 14.6% during the last 20 months.

Net absorption, for its part, stood on positive grounds, that is, demand exceeded vacancy in the city, until the end of 2Q 2020, where as a result of the pandemic, net demand began to tread negative terrain.

In addition to this circumstance, the gross demand observed in the last semester of 2020 and the first half of 2021 was characterized by the predominance of sales over income.

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But if we analyze the second half of the year, the city of Monterrey begins with a predominance of space rental over sales, where the latter was reduced by almost 50% compared to the previous quarter.

At the end of 3Q 2021 there was a slight increase in the average price and it was one of the three markets with an increase at the national level, and for the first time so far this year, the net absorption reaches positive numbers above 10 thousand square meters.

Regarding the characteristics of the demand, there was the same preference to buy in buildings already in existence as in construction, unlike the last quarter in which the presale was higher.

Developments with a percentage destined for residential or commercial use are those that have had the greatest advantage over buyers and investors.

Amenities, location on important avenues and the possibility of offering the office already conditioned or furnished; They have also been points in favor in the acquisition of spaces in what was observed during the third quarter of 2021.

Another important sign of recovery in this market is the rise in the rental price of spaces by 74%, especially in the months of July and September in which there has been the greatest activity.

Unlike the 2Q of 2021 where most of the rented spaces were conditioned, in this quarter they remained on par with the trend together with the gray work spaces.

In the first half of the year, a figure of around 30 thousand square meters of gross absorption was reached, but only in 3Q 2021 it registered 30 thousand 600 square meters.

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This figure is even higher than the highest reported last year during the last quarter with a little more than 26 thousand square meters, which speaks of a slow but rising recovery in both the rental and purchase of offices in the city of Monterrey.

Brokers such as Santa María and Centro, are those that have excelled in preferences in the sale of offices, but in the case of rent, the broker that stood out the most was Valle Oriente.

Total vacancy for the quarter remained at the same level as in 2Q 2021 with a value of almost 16 thousand square meters, but it has decreased by 31% since the beginning of 2021.

Last year there was an irregular behavior of unemployment and absorption, as a result of the uncertainty about the safe return to activities; So far this year, the trend is towards a decrease or stability in unemployment and an increase in demand by the end of 2021.

Since these are the last months of the year in which some companies generally terminate their contracts, there may be an increase in vacancy, although if absorption continues at the same rate as this quarter, the impact on net market absorption should not be so representative.