He industrial real estate market fails to serve all the companies attracted by the nearshoringthe phenomenon of relocation of companies that has taken place globally, of which Monterrey, Nuevo León has taken advantage.
Until March 2023, the real estate services firm Colliers detected 27 companies looking for an industrial warehouse within the metropolitan area of the Monterrey capital, which represents an approximate need for 600,000 square meters of space.
However, Sergio Resendez, general director of Colliers in Monterrey, indicated that the government has more than 80 companies on its radar wanting to position themselves in the city.
“It seems exaggerated, but every day we receive requests for information about the market. A good year is coming for the sector. I don’t think the 2022 record will be broken, but the numbers will continue to be extraordinary in terms of absorption,” he commented in an interview for econohabitat.
Recently, Samuel García, governor of Nuevo León, assured that the state captures 72% of the nearshoring coming to Mexico. According to official information from his administration, from October 2021 to March 2023, more than 130 investment projects were confirmed: 68 were new companies and 62 expansions, which represented a capital of 11.564 million dollars.
insufficient construction
Despite the fact that developers have tried to increase the volume of projects to take advantage of the relocation of companies, the demand is such that the ships They are not finished building when they have already closed the rental contract with a company.
Until March 2023, around 1.8 million square meters of work were reported. Said figure is insufficient, according to Resendez, since the rate of occupation is more than 7.4 million square meters per year.
In its latest market report, the Datoz platform indicated that the arrival of electromobility companies (such as Tesla) could further detonate this good moment for industrial real estate.
“During the first three months of the year, the automotive and electronic sectors concentrated 43% of the occupied spaces in northeastern Mexico, mainly in Monterrey,” the platform said.
Rising rents
As a consequence of the accelerated activity in the industrial spaces Monterrey, a considerable increase was observed in the closing prices of rental transactions.
According to Datoz, in its annual comparison, the increase was 9%, at the end of the first quarter of 2023. Thus, companies pay, on average, $5.27 per square meter per month.
“Given the high demand that the northeast region has experienced, developers have been busy acquiring land reserves to have custom project development options, so we could see a dynamic in which land reserve holders increase the cost of it for speculative projects,” added the specialized firm.
Challenges: Infrastructure and workforce
Despite the bonanza of the nearshoring in Monterrey lands it is public knowledge, the market does not escape challenges. Francisco Solares, president of the Mexican Chamber of the Construction Industry (CMIC), stressed that, in general, the country is not prepared for the phenomenon.
In this sense, the industry leader questioned whether Monterrey’s infrastructure is sufficient to support the operation of companies the size of Tesla.
“We are not prepared right now to be able to meet the enormous demand from companies. We need infrastructure and housing. I don’t know how all the inputs for Tesla’s production will arrive in a timely manner, and how the car charges will come out, when all the highways in the region,” Solares said.
Also, as developers try to speed up the construction of projects to meet the nearshoringanother challenge has emerged in the sector: competition for labor.
According to Resendez, a fight for the hiring of construction workers is beginning to be seen, not only among players industrialbut also with those of building offices and shopping centers.
“The fight for labor in all areas is also important. And there is the possibility that many of the workers decide to be employed in the factories that are arriving,” said the Colliers manager.
