The country's capital continues, together with Monterrey, to occupy the first two places in gross demand nationwide. But it is from the second quarter of 2021 that Monterrey surpasses the demand registered by Mexico City quarter after quarter, with the exception of the third quarter of 2022 where it regained the first position at the national level, reporting 627 thousand square meters.
When we analyze the history of the last five years in the capital we observe that demand moves on average between 250 and 380 thousand square meters, while the developers who operate there maintain an average of 500 thousand square meters of warehouses in progress.
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Another characteristic of this market is the almost total dominance of the speculative bet that allows it to meet the demands of light manufacturing companies, but mainly to firms in the logistics sector that drive demand with recurring periodicity in the main periods when the consumption of goods by dates such as the good end, back to school and Christmas, to name a few.
This average number of warehouses that remain under construction is fed by new projects that start in a quarter and is reduced by the projects that are completed, which on the Solili platform is called new supply. That is, this pace has remained relatively constant over the last five years, with the exception of the first half of 2022, where there was a strong push that brought the number of projects advancing to a figure of around 800 thousand square meters, 60 % above usual.
Even under this push in industrial construction activity, vacancy has only decreased, month by month, since January 2021, where it reached its maximum percentage with 5.6% until now, where it reports 1% in August 2023, the highest level. low since mid-2018.
If we review the geographical composition of vacancies by submarkets, we find a situation that is replicated in almost all of them. For example, Naucalpan and Vallejo are around 2.22%. Both markets are the closest to the center of the capital, where the phenomenon of renovation and reconstruction of industrial spaces has been key to ensuring that vacancy does not continue to decrease sharply.
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However, the submarkets of Toluca and the CTT (Cuautitlán, Tultitlán y Tepotzotlán), which concentrate 96% of the gross demand in Mexico City at the end of Q2 2023, maintain a vacancy level very close to the capital average. Toluca is located in the average of the capital with 1%, while Tultitlan reports 0.7% and Cuautitlan half a percentage point, reserving for Tepotzotlán the lowest percentage in the city with 0.2%.
For this reason, it is necessary to start new projects mainly in corridors where demand is secure and there are still some land reserves with an industrial vocation. Exploring new submarkets and evaluating reconfigurations of obsolete buildings is the other route that will be in force in the quarters to come.