Vacancy rates have increased across office, retail and industrial sectors in the Cy-Fair area between the first quarter of 2020 and late February 2021, but industrial sectors have seen the sharpest rise, hitting 15.4% as of Feb. 24, up from 11.1% last year.

The vacancy rate among office properties rose from 18.7% to 20.6% over that time, while the retail sector saw a slight increase from 5.5% to 6.4%, according to data from CoStar Group provided by Caldwell Cos. to Community Impact Newspaper. The industrial sector has also seen the most new construction with about 2 million new square feet of space added over the past year. By comparison, the retail sector added about 300,000 square feet, while no new office buildings were added in the past year, according to the CoStar data.

As of Feb. 24, another five industrial projects were under construction in the Cy-Fair area with about 618,000 square feet of space between them. About 208,000 square feet of office space is under construction in Cy-Fair across three buildings, while eight retail projects underway will add 126,000 square feet of space to the market. Although vacancy rates have risen, rents have also risen in Cy-Fair industrial sector. The average triple net direct rent per square foot was around $9.02 as of Feb. 24, up from $7.58 in the first quarter of 2020 and $8.60 in the third quarter of 2020, according to the CoStar data. Rental rates in the office sector have been declining since mid-year of last year. Retail rates rose throughout last year but have declined slightly since the end of 2020.