27 March, 2023 | #DatozByDatoz
During 2022, Querétaro received $753.2 million in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), according to Mexico’s Ministry of the Economy. The countries that invested the most in Querétaro during this period were United States (38.5%), France (22.8%), Canada (16.1%), Japan (7.5%), and Spain (6.0%), respectively, totaling 91% of all investments in the state.
Likewise, of the total FDI that Querétaro received in 2022, 66.4% came from the manufacturing industry, which is equivalent to $500.2 million dollars. This directly benefited the industrial real estate market, as it was the third market with the highest absorption during 2022, only behind Monterrey and Mexico City, according to Datoz’s Analytics 2.0 tool records.
Querétaro was the most dynamic market in Bajío region, with gross absorption of 5.6 million ft2, an increase of 61% over the previous year. In addition, this was the highest absorption in Querétaro since Datoz began monitoring this market.
This was due to the expansion of companies that were already established in the region, as well as the arrival of new investments; from January to November 2022, 46 private investment projects were completed, estimated to be around $22 billion pesos worth and 13,000 new jobs created, according to Mexico’s Secretaria of Sustainable Development (Sedesu).
All this activity was also driven by nearshoring, which has begun to benefit not only border markets but also the Bajío region, where the arrival of companies mainly in the automotive and industrial consumer goods sectors has been observed.
The demand for industrial spaces by the automotive sector represented 20% of the total demand, according to Analytics 2.0. Among the companies that arrived are Kostal Automobil Elektrik, Bosch, and BCS Automotive Interface Solutions.
The expansion of the German company Kostal Automobil Elektrik in Mexico was one of the most important investments. It was worth approximately $105 million dollars. This company acquired an industrial building of 246,000 ft2 in Finsa Querétaro III industrial park. Currently it has factories in Germany, China, Brazil, India, and Mexico.
Bosch invested $146 million dollars to increase its production in Querétaro, by leasing a 130,000 ft2 build-to-suit (BTS) building in Aerotech industrial park. Since 2017, Bosch has been manufacturing electronic devices for the automotive industry at its Querétaro plant.
By the end of 2022, Querétaro’s inventory grew annually by 7.7% to reach 69 million ft2. The vacancy rate was 5.6%. In addition, there were construction starts that sum up 5.5 million ft2. These include speculative buildings and BTS projects for lease or sale. Recorded an increase in asking prices, mainly in Querétaro Norte and Aeropuerto submarkets. On the other hand, the submarkets with the highest absorption were El Marqués and Aeropuerto.