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25 Real Estate The market for residential real estate improved considerably in 2014. Approximately 4,000 home sales are projected for Chatham County in 2014, a 14% increase from 2013. Chatham County's average home price was about $227,000, roughly the same as 2013, making the Savannah market very competitive in affordability with other port cities as well as other metropolitan areas around the country. The Savannah market is in the least expensive one-third of national housing markets, ranking 1,207 of 1,997 according to Coldwell Banker. Total inventory of about 3,150 houses were on the market in the three-county MSA as of November 2014. West Chatham County holds the most promise for residential development in 2015. However, there are numerous residential infill projects that received MPC approval for development in Savannah in 2015. Planning appears to be proceeding to allow for the construction of two multi-story and multi-unit residential apartment buildings on the fringes of Savannah's Historic landmark District. Vacancy rates in metro Savannah's office market have significantly decreased to about 17% from 21% in the previous year. This is attributed to the absorption of about 150,000 square feet in the downtown CBD where average rental rates were reaching $21 per square foot by the second quarter of 2014. Increasing demand for office market condominium projects for support services in West Chatham near the still-developing outlet mall is expected for 2015. Commercial development activity is fairly strong in the Savannah area as of early 2015. Major retail projects continue in the development stage at the Outlet Mall of Georgia in Pooler, while Ben Carter's vision for Broughton Street in downtown Savannah headline retail action. Numerous other smaller projects are underway in the downtown CBD, midtown, and southside markets. Hotel development will be booming in 2015. The west end of River Street is poised for about a $300 million infusion of investment associated with hotelier Richard Kesler's Plant Riverside $230 million complex, Rockbridge Capital's adjacent $60 million 162 room hotel, and the City of Savannah's $14 million extension of the river walk. Plant Riverside is centered on the old power plant building and calls for 400 hotel rooms, 26,000 square feet of retail, restaurant and entertainment space, along with 65,000 square feet of outside communal space along the riverfront. The project is expected to break ground in July 2015. Rockbridge Capital's project is on the site known as the "hotel annex" and also is expected to move forward in 2015. Other notable hotel projects include the planned 6-story Aloft Hotel and garage, a 6-story 137-room Fairfield Inn, and the sale of the Bridgestone/Firestone site to a hotel developer, all on MLK Jr. Blvd. North Point Hospitality's 7-story 162-room on the former Georgia Power headquarters site at the east end of River Street is scheduled to open in March 2015. Conditions in the industrial market continue to improve. The vacancy rate has dropped to about 8% from rates as high as 20% in 2010. Increasing speculative development of relatively small scale projects has about 600,000 square feet in the pipeline. The uptick in speculative development is a response to the declining vacancy rate, and smaller scale projects are likely to be the norm for another year or two.