Industrial real estate brokers in Baja California such as Tijuana, Tecate y Mexicali  are beginning to run out of available space for new clients, which has already led to a shortage of inventory and an increase in prices, reaching the highest in the country.

This was pointed out by the real estate consultant Solili, which detailed that, in the case of Tecate, before the pandemic the availability of space was almost 7%; however, for last April this percentage changed to 0.56 percent.

Pablo López, director of analysis and information at Solili, explained that factors such as the high demand for nearshoring, which seeks to serve the US market, especially California; the small amount of available land and the low volume of industrial real estate space have led Baja California corridors to have the highest prices and lowest vacancies in the country.

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"Today Tijuana is the city with the highest prices nationwide, surpassing those of Mexico City," he said.

“This second quarter closes at 6.15 dollars per square meter per month, while Mexico City is around 6 dollars. When the pandemic started, (Tijuana) it was around 5 dollars, but we have strong increases in prices, pressured by high demand and that incorporate the issue of inflation.”

As of the Covid-19 pandemic, the industrial real estate segment underwent a reconfiguration, in which supply chains and logistics improvements made companies seek to settle in markets better located to their final assembly plant.

“Baja California continues to be very attractive for companies on the West Coast of the United States, because it allows them to have their manufacturing plants very close to their final assembly,” López Gallardo explained.

The specialist recalled that, although Tijuana was the most dynamic industrial real estate market, followed by Tecate, in the short term Mexicali will follow the trend.

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For Pablo López, the reasons that lead companies to locate in the Baja California border area is to meet their specific needs, which range from connectivity to California, to the type of specialized labor, so that other industrial markets such as Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, or Monterrey, Nuevo León, are not alternatives.

In the case of Ciudad Juárez, the specialist explained that the manufacturing they serve is different and is aimed at Texas and New Mexico, while Monterrey, despite having a high inventory available, its market is aimed at automotive manufacturing and the furniture sector. 

“Mostly speculative spaces are being demanded in Baja California, which are still under construction, because there is no existing vacancy,” explained the analyst.

For Solili, it will not be possible for the markets of Tijuana, Tecate and Mexicali to be joined by other competitors in the region, due to the fact that there is no more space with similar geographic conditions.

In Solili you can also consult industrial buildings available in Guadalara and Queretaro

Original note