The City of Saskatoon is cashing in as real estate demand and prices flirt with record highs. The city has a near lock on new serviced industrial land and appears to be taking full advantage.
The city is expected to release another 36.5 acres of industrial land after posting startling sales at its dominant Marquis site, which is being slowly fed into an apparently insatiable market.
Examples of the city’s offerings: a 1.44-acre site for $2.9 million; and a 3.7- acre site for nearly $1.7 million.
“[Marquis] land prices have remained stable as prices range from $424,000 to $483,000 per acre,” noted a survey by ICR Commercial Real Estate.
The next industrial land put up by the city is expected to be made available in serviced parcels of from 1.36 to 2.25 acres and are expected to be listed for sale this spring.
An estimated 77 per cent of all industrial development in Saskatoon is now concentrated in the Marquis Industrial area, where more than 260,000 square feet of industrial property is under construction.
In 2013, Saskatoon saw the lease up or sale of more than 500,000 square feet of industrial real estate and 56 per cent of that has been sold or leased.
Sale prices of finished buildings are ranging from $175 to $195 per square foot, with lease rates for new buildings in the $12 to $14.65 per square foot range.
Saskatoon currently has an inventory of 17.7 million square feet of industrial space and only 6 per cent of it is vacant, according to ICR.
Western Investor will present a full report on Saskatoon’s commercial and industrial real estate markets in our June issue.
