port of call for northbound ships exiting the Panama Canal. San Diego, while sporting a fine natural harbor, attracts little port traffic, in spite of its early promotion as the first U.S. “West Coast ports could lose some market share,” the report says, “but given shipping trends, the United States desperately needs extra capacity to handle goods movement.”
Now, with the Panama Canal expected to offer greater capacity in 2014 (exactly 100 years after it opened), shipping is expected to shift in favor of East Coast and Gulf of Mexico ports. Industrial developments include both factories and warehouses, but their use has shifted in recent decades as retailers and wholesalers have become more efficient. “In the Era of Less, apartments fit the bill.” “People need a palce to sleep and look for greater economies,” the report says. In San Diego, apartment experts already are noticing falling vacancies and stable and creeping-up rental rates, or at least fewer move-in incentives.
“Severely constrained recent development plus pent-up demand from the burgeoning young-adult population cohort and busted homeowners back in the rental market add up to lowered vacancies and eventual rent hikes.”
