Philadelphia, PA (April 30, 2018) — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) released its first-quarter 2018 reports for Greater Philadelphia and the I-81/78 Corridor industrial markets. The combined markets closed the period with 0.8 million square feet of occupancy gains. Quarter-over-quarter, the combined vacancy rate stayed flat at 6.6 percent as the market remained extremely tight. There were only two deliveries this quarter, both warehouse properties. 139 Fredericksburg Road in the Central Pennsylvania submarket delivered a 225,875-square-foot expansion that was promptly occupied by Ace Hardware, while 305 East Church Road in Montgomery County, a 49,102-square-foot building, delivered vacant. The I-81/78 Corridor continued to capture the majority of the warehouse pipeline, where, 8.9 of the combined markets’ 14.4 million square feet of new space is being built.

The Southern New Jersey market recorded 226,511 square feet in negative absorption, its first quarter of negative posting since the second quarter of 2015. The Camden County submarket experienced the greatest loss with 179,120 square feet of negative absorption, followed by Burlington County with 44,461 square feet and Gloucester County with 2,930 square feet. Quarter-over-quarter, overall vacancy in the market increased 20 basis points, but remains low at 4.2 percent. While vacancy in Burlington and Glouster Counties remained steady at 3.7 and 5.8 percent, respectively, vacancy in the Camden County submarket rose 60 basis points to 3.6 percent. Two major moves came as Bellmawr Laundry left 74,000 square feet at 281 Benigno Avenue in Camden County and AMF Holdings vacated 48,000 square feet at 1808 River Road in Burlington Township. Despite the slight uptick in vacancy, optimism for the future of the market remains high. According to Kurt Montagano, NKF senior managing director, “Despite increasing rents in the Southern New Jersey markets, demand continues to outpace supply, creating spec and build-to-suit activity.”

The New Castle County, Delaware market slowed compared to fourth-quarter 2017, but remained active. The market reported 124,936 square feet in positive absorption, lowering the vacancy rate by 50 basis points from year-end 2017 to 15.3 percent. With the continued activity, rent in general industrial, warehouse/distribution, and R&D/flex sectors all increased, driving the overall rent up $0.14 to $4.67 per square foot. Lease rates for the R&D/flex sector had the highest gains, jumping $0.60 to $6.68 per square foot, while the warehouse and general industrial sectors ticked up $0.20 and $0.10, respectively, to $4.98 and $4.26 per square foot.

The Southeastern Pennsylvania market closed the first quarter with 273,109 square feet in occupancy loss. In Philadelphia County, Cardone Industries’ 1.325-million-square-foot distribution center, located at 5501 Whitaker Avenue, was put on the market for sale or lease. That disappointing news was offset by the following new deals: Dependable Distributions moved into 332,640 square feet at 9801 Blue Grass Road and 185,000 square feet at 11200 Roosevelt Boulevard, and Rainbow occupied 365,000 square feet at 2951 Grant Avenue. All things considered, vacancy for the quarter still ticked up 10 basis points to 6.4 percent, which is still considered extremely tight. Eustace Wolfington, NKF senior managing director, had this to say; “Demand in the market for industrial space has intensified and lease rates are among the highest this market has ever seen. The scarcity of available properties is driving prices up, benefitting sellers and landlords.” This quarter, the overall lease rate rose $0.02 to $5.48 per square foot, the highest rate in over ten years. The R&D/Flex rate led the way, rising $0.09 to end at $9.06 per square foot – the highest rate ever posted by that sector.

Vacancy for I-81/78 Corridor warehouse/distribution properties stayed flat in the first quarter of 2018 at 6.8 percent. The market recorded 1.2 million square feet of positive absorption, half of the five-year quarterly average of 2.4 million square feet. Tim Brogan, NKF senior managing director, noted, “Though the e-commerce boom in the warehouse sector continues, land and space to fulfill requirements are becoming scarce. 8.9 million square feet of spaces is currently under construction, while at the same time there are approximately fifteen 1.0 to 1.2 million square foot requirements, plus twelve 500,000 to 800,000 square foot requirements pursuing space in the market.” Along with slowing absorption, land scarcity is also driving up rental rates. The overall rate rose $0.08 to $4.44 per square foot, and all three market sectors experienced positive increases. The largest climb was in the warehouse and distribution and R&D/flex sectors, which both rose $0.11 to end at $4.50 per square foot and $7.68 per square foot, respectively. The $4.50 per square foot rental rate for warehouse properties is the highest since the third quarter of 2007.

About Newmark Knight Frank
Newmark Knight Frank (“NKF”), operated by Newmark Group, Inc. (“Newmark”), is one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Newmark has over 4,600 employees in over 120 offices. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NKF’s 15,000 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents. With roots dating back to 1929, NKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. We offer a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry.

Our investor/owner services and products include investment sales, agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence, underwriting and, under trademarks and names like Berkeley Point and NKF Capital Markets, government sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Our occupier services and products include tenant representation, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, global corporate services consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. We enhance these services and products through innovative real estate technology solutions and data analytics designed to enable our clients to increase their efficiency and profits by optimizing their real estate portfolio. We have relationships with many of the world’s largest commercial property owners, real estate developers and investors, as well as Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

Newmark, which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “NMRK”, is a publicly traded subsidiary of BGC Partners, Inc. (“BGC”), a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BGCP”. BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BGCA”.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements about Newmark

Statements in this document regarding Newmark that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Newmark undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Newmark’s and BGC’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, or Forms 8-K.

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Philadelphia, PA (April 12, 2018) — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) released its first-quarter 2018 office reports for the greater Philadelphia region. The reports detail bullish activity in Southeastern Pennsylvania and slowly improving market conditions in the Philadelphia Central Business District (CBD). Market fundamentals remain soft in the Southern New Jersey office market, while Delaware’s suburban office markets out performed Downtown Wilmington.

Southeastern Pennsylvania continued on a hot streak and recorded 479,334 square feet of positive absorption for the first quarter of 2017. This was 82.0 percent of 2017’s total absorption. Reid Blynn, NKF executive managing director, notes, “There are several tenants with large requirements looking in Southeastern Pennsylvania. It is possible that the market could gain 1.0 million square feet of new occupancy by year’s end.” Annual absorption for Southeastern Pennsylvania has averaged 583,383 square feet over the past five years.

Vacancy fell 50 basis points to 14.5 percent and was the lowest rate in over a decade. In the Blue Bell/Plymouth Meeting submarket, Cotiviti occupied 86,621 square feet at the recently renovated 785 Arbor Way. At 2501 Seaport Drive located in the Central/Southern Delaware submarket, Keystone Sports and Entertainment and PowerHome Remodeling occupied 23,000 square feet and 40,000 square feet, respectively. Over in the Radnor/Main Line market, Brandywine backfilled 40,000 square feet at Radnor Financial Center.

Southeastern Pennsylvania’s Class A rent increased by $0.19, from year-end 2017, to $30.00 per square foot. The Radnor/Main Line submarket concluded the first quarter with an average rent of $39.12 per square foot. It may be possible for Class A rent to break $40.00 per square foot somewhere in the suburbs before the end of the year. Finally, Class B rent grew by $0.23 to $24.59 per square foot, attributed to rent increases at Spring Mill Corporate Center and additional availability at Spring Mill Pavilion. Both properties are located in Conshohocken.

The CBD posted 107,812 square feet of negative absorption for the first quarter of 2018, mainly attributed to tenant activity at a small group of buildings in the West Market’s Class A sector. Downsizing and fewer tenants relocating from outside of the CBD market kept the vacancy at high levels for most of 2017. Some tenants that attributed to the vacancy include: 95,062 square feet formerly occupied by Comcast, at the Logan’s, was returned to the market, Deloitte “right-sizing” from 120,000 square feet to 90,000 square feet at 1700 Market Street, and Montgomery McCracken’s relocating from 120,000 square feet at 123 South Broad Street to 67,000 square feet at 1735 Market Street. As a result, Class A vacancy increased 40 basis points to 12.6 percent. However, NKF forecasts improved market conditions for the rest of the year. The new Comcast Tower will deliver in April and add 1.3 million square feet in positive absorption. NKF assisted Neumann Finance, a newly created equipment-leasing firm in partnership with Beneficial Bank, with a 21,695-square-foot lease at 123 South Broad Street. The company will occupy later this year. In addition, tenants from surrounding submarkets and Southern New Jersey are interested in securing outpost offices in the CBD.

All building classes experienced a bump in gross rent attributed to rising occupancy costs from the implementation of new real estate taxes. From year-end 2017, Class A asking rent increased $1.33 to $33.90 per square foot. Said Craig Scheuerle, NKF executive managing director, “Owners relatively new to the Philadelphia market, including Shorenstein, Coretrust and American Real Estate Partners, are increasing rents with major capital expenditures on lobby renovations and amenity/conference centers.”

Southern New Jersey market fundamentals remained soft at the close of the first quarter. Over the past three months, the average direct Class A rent fell $0.44 to $24.42 per square foot, while the Class B rate decreased by $0.11 to $19.95 per square foot. Quarter-over-quarter, the overall vacancy rate rose by 70 basis points to 14.7 percent. The market recorded 65,371 square feet of negative absorption. DeVry University closed its 14,731-square-foot location at 921 Haddonfield Road in Cherry Hill. Additionally, T&M Associates relocated from 19,000 square feet at 1256 North Church Street, in Moorestown, to 12,000 square feet at 200 Century Parkway, located in Mount Laurel. Anne Klein, NKF executive managing director, notes, “It will take some strong backfilling of space, as tenants occupy their new buildings in the city of Camden over the next 12-18 months, to maintain low vacancy levels.” While the largest new transaction executed in the first quarter was Corporate Synergy Group’s lease of 26,737 square feet at 2 Aquarium Drive, located in the Pennsauken/Camden submarket, most leases were by users under 10,000 square feet.

There was some good news from the investment front. Over the past year, typical purchasers of multi-tenant properties have shifted from REITS to local private investors. The market is now drawing interest from investors outside the region. One is a Texas-based private investor that has four office assets under contract and the other is from a Massachusetts healthcare REIT focused on two Marlton office properties.

In the first quarter, the Wilmington CBD posted 10,436 square feet in negative absorption, while the suburbs recorded 71,663 square feet in occupancy gains. Sallie Mae’s move to 57,576 square feet at 90 Christiana Road in Wilmington South was the main reason for the suburbs positive absorption. Vacancy in the CBD increased for the second consecutive quarter to 17.8 percent. The Wilmington South and Wilmington West submarkets reported quarterly declines of 120 basis points and 60 basis points, respectively, to 10.9 percent and 18.9 percent. There were minor upticks in Class A and Class B rental rates for the CBD. However, the Wilmington North market recorded a $0.49 uptick due to 500,000 square feet, formerly owned by AstraZeneca, which was returned to the market at 1800 Concord Plaza.

Neal Dangello, NKF senior managing director, noted, “The city’s higher operating costs, such as parking, employment and wage taxes, make it less desirable for tenants. Expect to see more back-office operations shifted out of the city.” This could further weaken conditions in downtown, which may contend with more than 500,000 square feet returned to the market if Bank of America’s Bracebridge office buildings are purchased by an investor and added to the inventory.

About Newmark Knight Frank
Newmark Knight Frank (“NKF”), operated by Newmark Group, Inc. (“Newmark”), is one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Newmark has over 4,600 employees in over 120 offices. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NKF’s 15,000 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents. With roots dating back to 1929, NKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. We offer a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry.

Our investor/owner services and products include investment sales, agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence, underwriting and, under trademarks and names like Berkeley Point and NKF Capital Markets, government sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Our occupier services and products include tenant representation, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, global corporate services consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. We enhance these services and products through innovative real estate technology solutions and data analytics designed to enable our clients to increase their efficiency and profits by optimizing their real estate portfolio. We have relationships with many of the world’s largest commercial property owners, real estate developers and investors, as well as Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

Newmark, which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “NMRK”, is a publicly traded subsidiary of BGC Partners, Inc. (“BGC”), a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BGCP”. BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BGCA”.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements about Newmark

Statements in this document regarding Newmark that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Newmark undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Newmark’s and BGC’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, or Forms 8-K.

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Philadelphia, PA (April 12, 2018) — Newmark Knight Frank (NKF) is pleased to announce that four new appraisers have joined Philadelphia’s expanding Valuation & Advisory practice. J. John Gasparre, MAI, Stephen J. Cook II, Andrew Barbato and Joseph Zakrzewski are the newest members of NKF’s Valuation & Advisory practice. All four appraisers are based in the Philadelphia office, led by Joseph D. Pasquarella, MAI, CRE, FRICS.

This local growth is reflective of NKF Valuation & Advisory’s national expansion. Since March of 2017, its national Valuation & Advisory practice has grown from approximately 15 people to more than 300.

Bringing 35 years of experience to his role, J. John Gasparre, MAI, has joined the Philadelphia office as a senior vice president. Prior to joining NKF, he served as a vice president with CBRE, as a member of the firm’s retail, multifamily  and national office valuation team. Throughout his successful career, he has prepared valuations and market analyses on a broad range of property types including super-regional malls, lifestyle centers, single-tenant retail, industrial, office buildings, mixed-use developments and vacant land, to name a few. Mr. Gasparre has carried out valuations for mortgage financing, tax appeal, investment counseling, potential sale or purchase, leasehold and rental analysis and feasibility analysis. His clients have included commercial banks, developers, corporations, individual property owners, public agencies, insurance companies and legal firms. Mr. Gasparre also successfully oversaw the startup of a valuation office for CBRE in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Also new to the Philadelphia office are Stephen J. Cook II, who joined as first vice president, and analysts Andrew Barbato, and Joseph Zakrzewski. Mr. Cook has 10 years of real estate experience and specializes in industrial real estate, focusing on suburban Philadelphia, central Pennsylvania, the Lehigh Valley and Northeastern Pennsylvania industrial markets. Mr. Barbato, and Mr. Zakrzewski will utilize their combined 56 years of experience to strengthen the foundation of the Philadelphia Valuation & Advisory team and expand service offerings to our clients throughout the region.

“We are excited to be adding more talent to our Philadelphia office and to offer clients real time market data and the skills of nationally recognized specialty practice leaders. Our local Valuation & Advisory expansion is reflective of NKF’s national strategy to attract the best talent to service our clients’ needs,” said Mr. Pasquarella.

“The enhanced value we gained when Joe Pasquerella and his team joined NKF and formed the Valuation & Appraisal team in Philadelphia is nothing short of exceptional. They are such a trusted, recognized and respected team in the Philadelphia market,” said John Busi, president of NKF’s Valuation & Advisory practice.

About Newmark Knight Frank
Newmark Knight Frank (“NKF”), operated by Newmark Group, Inc. (“Newmark”), is one of the world’s leading commercial real estate advisory firms. Newmark has over 4,600 employees in over 120 offices. Together with London-based partner Knight Frank and independently-owned offices, NKF’s 15,000 professionals operate from more than 400 offices in established and emerging property markets on six continents. With roots dating back to 1929, NKF’s strong foundation makes it one of the most trusted names in commercial real estate. We offer a complete suite of services and products for both owners and occupiers across the entire commercial real estate industry.

Our investor/owner services and products include investment sales, agency leasing, property management, valuation and advisory, diligence, underwriting and, under trademarks and names like Berkeley Point and NKF Capital Markets, government sponsored enterprise lending, loan servicing, debt and structured finance and loan sales. Our occupier services and products include tenant representation, real estate management technology systems, workplace and occupancy strategy, global corporate services consulting, project management, lease administration and facilities management. We enhance these services and products through innovative real estate technology solutions and data analytics designed to enable our clients to increase their efficiency and profits by optimizing their real estate portfolio. We have relationships with many of the world’s largest commercial property owners, real estate developers and investors, as well as Fortune 500 and Forbes Global 2000 companies. For further information, visit www.ngkf.com.

Newmark, which is listed on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the symbol “NMRK”, is a publicly traded subsidiary of BGC Partners, Inc. (“BGC”), a leading global brokerage company servicing the financial and real estate markets. BGC’s common stock trades on the NASDAQ Global Select Market under the ticker symbol “BGCP”. BGC also has an outstanding bond issuance of Senior Notes due June 15, 2042, which trade on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol “BGCA”.

Discussion of Forward-Looking Statements about Newmark

Statements in this document regarding Newmark that are not historical facts are “forward-looking statements” that involve risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements. Except as required by law, Newmark undertakes no obligation to update any forward-looking statements. For a discussion of additional risks and uncertainties, which could cause actual results to differ from those contained in the forward-looking statements, see Newmark’s and BGC’s Securities and Exchange Commission filings, including, but not limited to, any updates to such risk factors contained in subsequent Forms 10-K, 10-Q, or Forms 8-K.

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