What's Driving Utah's Commercial Real Estate Market

Salt Lake Valley’s real estate market is seeing an improved demand for Class A office spaces, according to a report on Deseret News.

The report, which cited data from Coldwell Banker Commercial, noted the city’s real estate activities which it said was due to Utah’s “fiscal potency.”    

Coldwell Banker’s report stated that Class A office spaces in the downtown central business district were becoming more attractive to tenants of all kinds as they search for upgrades, such as “enhanced amenities, new construction, and better transportation.” Class A buildings were those made with high quality materials and systems, and are located in high-visibility places.

As a result, rental rates showed an uptick in the Class A space even if vacancy rates were also up in the office market in general. The segment recorded the highest gains rental rates, up by 2.4 percent from 2013 to $24.58 per square foot. The average rental rates for office spaces stand at $21.85 per square foot, a marginal increase from last year’s rates.  

Kevin Long, principal broker and COO at Coldwell Banker Commercial, stated in the report that the best locations to acquire Class A office spaces are in the downtown central business district, the Cottonwood Corporate Center, and Union Park.

Long also said that the South Valley area is poised for expansion, hedging the state against “any unforeseen economic or financial difficulties,” the report said.  

Salt Lake Valley agents can use real estate technologies like RealBiz Media Group, Inc.’s RBIZ Microvideo App and Nestbuilder Agent to market high-end commercial spaces in the area. Both technologies are disruptive technologies that are like no other in the market today and are independent of multiple listings sites.  

The Microvideo App is a platform designed to eliminate the need for agents to buy leads from multiple listings sites. According to RealBiz Media CEO Bill Kerby, the platform, which helps “technology-starved” agents to market properties to buyers for as low as $10 a month, allows agents to create their own video-centric microsites for marketing and building their brands.

“The MVA is platform that allows the agent to go out and customize and create home solutions, home events, what's happening in their neighborhoods, home listings that they can target to individual, to consumers, through emails, to social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest,” he said.

“What they can then do is follow-up with the leads that they have sent out and determine who is an interested follower and who is not, thus generating business back to them,” Kerby added.

The Nestbuilder Agent platform, meanwhile, also offers similar features for video and virtual tour creations. To be able to use the platform, agents have to create an account on RealBiz Media’s consumer site Nestbuilder.com.

According to a report on the IBTimes, 15,350 active agents are currently using MVA and Nestbuilder Agent. Some 24,000 videos are published daily across RealBiz Media’s platforms.