As leasing velocity slowed in other U.S. cities, Atlanta’s picked up during the third quarter, boosting investor confidence in the metro area, according to a new survey from accounting and consulting giant PricewaterhouseCoopers.
The report cited State Farm’s consolidation in two Dunwoody office buildings. In June, the nation’s largest property and casualty insurance company said it would occupy a new 400,000-square-foot customer service center near Perimeter Mall, where it will employ 500. The offices will be at 64 Perimeter Center East and 66 Perimeter Center East.
“Confidence in the overall Atlanta economy continues to build, and this type of lease transaction will only add to the momentum,” according to the real estate survey.
Investors have regained some optimism about Atlanta, as more building owners report rent spikes. The survey found that 20 percent of building owners raised rents in the third quarter, versus 14 percent in the same period in 2011. The Atlanta market’s average initial- year market rent change rate increased 56 basis points in the third quarter.
“One of our tenant reps used the words ‘rent growth’ – a phrase we haven’t heard in years,” according to one of the survey’s respondents in Atlanta.
Source: Douglas Sams, Atlanta Business Chronicle
