From 2021, the main real estate markets of Mexico have managed to capitalize on the arrival of foreign companies that find attractiveness in the national territory, especially in the north and center of the country, given the current of nearshoring; however, some others have been left out of the game despite their potential, due to a lack of incentives from local authorities and other factors.
Such is the case of regions like Puebla, since the construction of new industrial real estate projects it decreased 100% during the end of the fourth quarter of 2022. According to the Datoz platform, in the last four months of last year the start of any work for industrial purposes was not reported.
Other states with a considerable decline in the development of industrial ships, were: Hermosillo (-69%), Aguascalientes (-59%) and Mexicali (-24%). When looking at the accumulated gross demand data, Puebla had a decrease of -31%, compared to 2021, similar to Aguascalientes (-83%).
Investment uncertainty
The decline in the construction of new industrial spaces in Puebla and Aguascalientes is a reflection of the lag in these markets, the result of uncertainty among investors regarding the use of the nearshoring by state authorities, explained Sergio Mireles, co-founder of Datoz.
“There has been some uncertainty as to whether the government is really taking advantage of Puebla’s potential, that has to do with investors not allocating capital for this market,” Mireles explained.
This is also reflected in the Foreign Direct Investment that the entity received during 2022. According to official data from the local Ministry of Economy, the capital raised was 613.9 million pesos, just over a quarter of that in 2019 (2,043.60 million of pesos).
For Silvia Gómez, an analyst at Datoz, in Puebla there were investment announcements and development of new pending projects that did not take place in 2022; although since 2021, the most consolidated park in the region, whose owner is Finsa, ran out of land available for construction.
“Puebla is a small market, but we hope that activity will resume in 2023 with the start of construction,” he said.
Another aspect that afflicts the Puebla market is the lack of diversification in terms of construction companies, since “they are not highly encouraged by the government to try to create projects,” said the Datoz co-founder in a meeting with the media.
construction nationwide
At the national level, the start of construction of 5 million 627,106 square meters of industrial space at the end of 2022, which includes speculative buildings, as well as custom buildings; of which, 21% are located in Monterrey and Mexico City (15%).
In this way, Mexico accumulates an inventory of 94.4 million square meters, for which it is expected that in 2023 the threshold of 100 million square meters will be exceeded. It is worth mentioning that the markets with the highest number of works started were Guanajuato (281%) and Querétaro (207%).
“Although some of the challenges for the Mexican market have become more acute, we believe that the future remains promising for this year, which will probably continue in line with the last two years,” confirmed Mireles.
