The Third Quarter 2017 Richmond Review from Jeff Leenhouts of Cushman & Wakefield is out. The Richmond warehouse market is just over 6 million square feet, with a 1.2% vacancy rate. The low vacancies and high rental rates of $0.70/square foot are partially attributed to the demand for illegal marijuana cultivation spaces.

The Richmond manufacturing market is just under 5 million square feet. Vacancies are still low at 5.7% but starting to edge upward. Richmond has a shortage of high quality buildings that are most in demand.

The Richmond office market is about 2.5 million square feet and not doing nearly as well as manufacturing and warehousing. Millennials seem to prefer to work ion more urban locations with access to amenities not offered in Richmond.

According to Trulia, the median residential rent in Richmond has stabilized at about $2,485, while the number of rentals is decreasing, possibly due to landlords selling single family homes to avoid Rent Control and Just Cause.

Trulia also shows the median sales price of a Richmond home at $425,000 in a slowly rising sellers’ market.

Richmond remains a major real estate bargain with some of the cheapest rents and home prices in the Bay Area. Just next door in El Cerrito, the median sales price of a home is $906,000, more than twice that of Richmond. The median rental in El Cerrito at $3,421 is 38 percent higher than Richmond.