Of the total surfaces demanded at the national level in 2022, 66% leaned towards the modality of speculative construction in terms of areas, although markets such as Tecate, Saltillo and Aguascalientes, the domain over 70% was led by projects made to the public. measure or BTS.

If we analyze the trend observed during the first quarter of 2023 in markets such as Mexico City, Guadalajara, Tecate, Mexicali, Querétaro and San Luis Potosí, we have seen how the entire gross demand is speculative. Mainly in the capital of the country where the vacancy at the end of April 2023 is 1.8%, the most institutional developers direct their resources to position themselves in the main submarkets with larger speculative surfaces than those developed in other national markets.

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In the case of Monterrey, which is the main demand market at the national level, the gross absorption that manages to accumulate more than a quarter of the national demand during the 1Q 2023 maintains 63% of speculative projects, leaving the rest to the demand for projects BTS. 

Another trend that is observed is that more than 55% of the speculative warehouses in this market correspond to surfaces of less than 15,000 square meters, where an important fabric of suppliers from various industries is concentrated, among which the following stand out: automotive, logistics , food and beverages, metal mechanics and manufacturing in general.

The phenomenon of relocation of new companies looking for Mexico as the ideal destination for their operations and the expansion of companies already established in the country continues to be a sign that encourages developers to start projects with their own resources before finding the right tenant. will occupy the property. However, in many of these cases, the negotiation progresses while the warehouse is being built, which is known as a pre-lease, allowing the potential tenant to secure the rental property.

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Two other northern markets such as Saltillo and Tijuana maintain 49% and 45% of speculative demand so far in the first quarter of the year. This current behavior is very different from what was seen in 2022 in these markets, since Tijuana had shown a notable inclination towards speculative demand, while Saltillo showed throughout 2022 a trend where the demand for custom-made ships prevailed.

In the coming quarters, the speculative trend is expected to increase due to the competition that has currently been generated in various industrial markets where the competitive advantage for developers is based not only on the differentiation they achieve through the design of their industrial buildings but also on the coverage they can offer nationwide.