Kitsap Real Estate Blog

The most recent office survey for Kitsap County(1) indicates a county wide vacancy of 13.73% in a total of 3,431,254 square feet of buildings surveyed. Bremerton is the largest office submarket with a total of 1,422,433 sf surveyed followed by Silverdale, Poulsbo, Bainbridge Island and Port Orchard in order.

Comparing that to the Colliers Report of the same period the downtown Seattle totals were 37,779,190 sf with a direct vacancy of 8.31%. Both markets saw an increase in inventory because of new construction.

Kitsap added 137,416 sf, mostly in Bremerton, Bainbridge Island and Silverdale. While there was a positive absorption of space for the period, the vacancy rate increased from 12.55% in October of 2007.

Downtown Bremerton Renaissance

The conclusion? Absorption of space up to October of 2008 was acceptable but there is anecdotal evidence that everything halted severely after that. New construction plans have been put on hold indefinitely and a number of largely vacant buildings have been put up for sale. Landlords can expect to lose existing tenants more than gain and should look to manage their properties well until some sort of a turnaround.

It is a good time to be buying for cash flow and certainty of leasing income with the caveat of finding reasonably priced debt financing.

For more detailed information on specific sub-markets or properties email your request to jimfreeman@jimfreeman.com.

(1) Source: Bradley Scott