Insights
Original analysis of the Wasatch Front commercial market, written by the brokers who work it — no recycled headlines, just the numbers that move deals and what we’d do about them.
Salt Lake industrial vacancy is falling, absorption is positive, and rents are rising again. But the number of buildings actually changing hands is running about a third below normal — and for manufacturing and owner-user product, it is far worse than that.
Office along the Wasatch Front has now posted seven straight quarters of positive absorption — with essentially nothing under construction. Salt Lake, Utah, and Davis-Weber Counties are each telling a different story, and the quality end of the market is quietly running out of space.
Salt Lake County industrial vacancy just fell for the second straight quarter — but the county average hides a market split in two. Small-bay buildings are effectively full while big boxes fight for tenants, and that gap is where every deal gets made right now.
Two-thirds of Salt Lake County's industrial base sits in three west-side corridors — and they are no longer moving together. The highest-vacancy corridor is also absorbing space faster than anywhere in the county, and the reasons say a lot about where the next cycle gets built.