— By Jordan Carter and Clay Newton of Kidder Mathews — Portland’s multifamily market is showing signs of stabilization after working through one of the largest apartment construction cycles in its history, compounded by one of the most dramatic swings in lending rates in recent memory. This combination compressed investment activity, weighed on asset values and drove sales volume to decade lows. Demand remains healthy, with apartment absorption over the past 12 months totaling about 3,500 units, in line with long-term historical averages and nearly double the trough of 2023. Vacancy currently sits at 7.1 percent, down from its 2024 peak and below the national average of 8.3 percent. The most consequential shift is the rapid decline in new supply. As of mid-2026, about 2,400 units remain under construction, totaling roughly 1 percent of inventory growth. Deliveries in 2025 were half of 2024 levels, and 2026 is projected to be half of 2025. This is creating the lightest new supply environment in more than a decade as higher interest rates, rising construction costs and tighter lending standards have constrained development. Rent growth remains under pressure but should bottom out near-term as the supply demand balance continues to tighten. Asking rents …
By Kevin Malinowski, Colliers | Cleveland-Akron Greater Cleveland continues to strengthen its position as one of the Midwest’s most competitive business and commercial real estate markets with Ohio’s recognition as CNBC’s No. 1 “State for Business in 2026,” a distinction driven by strong infrastructure, competitive operating costs, strategic market access and a growing supply of development-ready sites. Those advantages are translating into corporate investment, job creation, real estate activity and public-private partnerships across Northeast Ohio. High-profile investments are helping fuel the region’s momentum. According to reports, Cleveland Clinic is investing more than $1 billion in healthcare, research and innovation initiatives, including construction of its new Neurological Institute on its main campus. Nearby, Canon Healthcare USA acquired a building near Cleveland Clinic’s main campus for its U.S. headquarters and operations. Sherwin-Williams recently completed its new downtown headquarters and suburban research campus. The project is widely regarded as one of the largest corporate investments in the city’s history and reflects the company’s continued presence and investment in the region. Like many other downtown office markets, Cleveland’s office sector is evolving as companies optimize workspace needs. That said, Cleveland has emerged as a notable leader for converting office to residential with projects such as …
Richmond’s industrial real estate market has changed considerably over the past several years. What was once a relatively quiet Mid-Atlantic logistics market became one of the country’s most competitive industrial markets during the pandemic. Record leasing activity, limited availability and rapidly rising rents attracted developers and institutional capital from across the country. Today, the market is more balanced — and, in my opinion, healthier. The fundamentals remain strong, but the days of putting a sign on a warehouse and watching tenants compete for the space are behind us. For owners, developers and investors, success in Richmond’s industrial market now requires a much closer look at location, building functionality, basis and tenant demand. The numbers tell the story. Richmond entered the second half of 2026 with an industrial vacancy rate of approximately 5.5 percent, according to CBRE, while the market posted positive net absorption of 136,000 square feet during the second quarter. Average asking rents reached $8.86 per square foot, up 2.4 percent from the prior quarter. At the same time, the development pipeline has grown to approximately 12.6 million square feet under construction, of which approximately 3.9 million are speculative projects. That amount of new supply deserves attention. Richmond has …
— By Austin McElroy of Colliers — Portland’s retail market is performing better than the headlines suggest. With vacancy sitting at 4.6 percent and triple-net rents averaging $24.45 per square foot — a 10 percent increase over just two years — the market reflects a quiet resilience built on selectivity rather than volume. The concepts and submarkets gaining traction share a common thread: they actively engage visitors, drawing people in and consistently driving repeat visits. Meanwhile, structural forces are reshaping the playing field. A suspension of the ground-floor retail mandate, a proposed vacancy tax, and a dramatic split in performance between suburban and urban submarkets are defining a leasing environment where quality of space matters more than quantity of options. Experience Outpaces Transactions The clearest trend reshaping Portland retail is the primacy of experience over pure transaction. Concepts that draw repeat visits, create community and deliver something beyond a simple purchase are generating foot traffic that traditional transactional retail cannot match. Nowhere is this more evident than at Bridgeport Village in Tualatin where the opening of a LEGO store drove a 19 percent year-over-year surge in foot traffic — a striking result for a single tenant addition. LaVerne’s Restaurant and Bar …
By Sean Anderson, senior associate, Partners Real Estate When Congress passed the No Surprises Act (NSA) in December 2020, the goal was straightforward: protect patients from the exorbitant, unpredictable bills that had become synonymous with emergency care and rein in some of the pricing power that out-of-network physicians and freestanding facilities had come to enjoy. On paper, the law delivered. By requiring that out-of-network emergency treatment be billed at the same rate a patient would owe for in-network care, the NSA eliminated an estimated 10 million surprise bills in just the first nine months of 2023 and pushed down the overall cost of emergency room (ER) procedures across the board, according to the second annual report to Congress from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For patients, it was an unambiguous win. For the physician groups and real estate operators that had built business models around emergency medicine, however, the law landed as a direct hit to the bottom line. Out-of-network reimbursements initially fell by roughly 40 percent, according to an FTI Consulting analysis of the provider side of the law, and bankruptcy filings for healthcare operators hit their highest level in five years, tripling from 2021 to …
By Taylor Williams Ask a local retail broker or landlord to name tenants that are currently expanding aggressively in the greater Boston area and throughout New England as a whole, and odds are that “Ross Dress for Less” will come up within the first minute. Of course, the California-based discount retailer has been crushing it for some time now. Ross announced in mid-March that it had opened 17 new stores, including four under its dd’s Discounts brands, in the first quarter — openings that followed the rollout of 36 new stores last fall. According to USA Today, these new stores came as part of Ross’ broader plan to grow its store count by about 200 units over the course of 2025 and 2026. These new store openings included locations in New York and New Jersey, but at the time, that appeared to be the northbound extent of the expansion. Not surprising, given that the discount apparel market in New England has long been dominated by TJX Cos., the metro Boston-based parent company of both T.J. Maxx and Marshalls, with Burlington also routinely capturing a respectable share of that market. The fact that Boston proper was — and still is — …
For years, much of Memphis’ retail growth has been concentrated in the suburbs. More recently, however, redevelopment activity in East Memphis, Midtown and Downtown has created a new source of investment and retail demand. While suburban growth remains steady, some of the market’s most notable projects are occurring in established areas where older properties are being redeveloped and repositioned for new uses. As a result, some of the market’s most significant activity is occurring within existing commercial corridors rather than through large-scale retail expansion. Memphis remains a healthy retail market, although growth has become more measured than it was a few years ago. Retail vacancy is forecast to reach 5 percent in 2026, while average asking rents are projected to climb to $14.20 per square foot. New supply also remains relatively limited. After more than 400,000 square feet of retail space was delivered annually in both 2023 and 2024, just 250,000 square feet is forecast to come on line in 2026. Limited new supply has helped support rent growth across existing shopping centers. Some of the strongest examples of this trend can be found in Midtown, Downtown and East Memphis, where older sites are being transformed into new mixed-use developments. …
— By Diane Pritchett of South Coast Metro Alliance — How do maturing mixed-use districts stay competitive as office, retail, multifamily and hospitality demand patterns continue to shift? The experience of South Coast Metro in Orange County, Calif., offers several practical lessons. In the 1960s, developer and philanthropist Henry Segerstrom envisioned the growth of a vibrant urban center that became South Coast Metro, covering 2,500 acres within 3.5 square miles, including sections of Costa Mesa and Santa Ana. Today, the district’s continued evolution offers a useful case study for other employment centers, mixed-use districts and economic development organizations looking to remain relevant as tenant and resident expectations change. Start with a Strong Anchor, then Keep it Current When the Segerstroms developed South Coast Plaza, they believed the indoor shopping destination would become a magnet, attracting others to the area. That anchor helped establish South Coast Metro’s identity well beyond Orange County. The lesson for other districts is that an anchor only works if it continues to evolve. Tenant mix, programming, dining, public space and visitor experience all need regular attention as consumer and workforce expectations change. Make Experience Part of the Business Case Office districts can no longer rely on …
By Tony Avendt, Cushman & Wakefield At first glance, Detroit’s industrial real estate market appears to be entering a period of moderation. Vacancy has crept upward, new supply continues to trickle online and recent quarters have posted negative absorption. Yet beneath these headline indicators lies a more complex — and arguably more resilient — story. The numbers alone do not fully capture how tenant behavior, shifting supply dynamics and a growing pool of “shadow space” are reshaping the market in subtle but meaningful ways. As of the first quarter of 2026, metro Detroit’s industrial vacancy rate stood at 4.1 percent, marking the 11th consecutive quarterly increase and the highest level since 2015. Even so, the market remains significantly tighter than the national average of approximately 7 percent, reinforcing Detroit’s position as one of the more supply-constrained industrial markets in the U.S. Rental performance tells a similarly stable story. Net average asking rents reached $7.40 per square foot in the first quarter — a 2.1 percent year-over-year increase and the highest level since late 2023. While rent growth has moderated from earlier peaks, landlords have largely maintained pricing power, particularly for well-located, modern distribution facilities. Still, the market is recalibrating after …
By Taylor Williams On some level, they knew this was coming, right? They just thought it would be over by now. Indeed, the expression, “survive till ’25” has proven insufficient as a barometer for when the multi-year slowdown in multifamily rent growth and valuations — inevitable consequences of the record-high sales prices and record-low cap rates that were achieved in 2021 and 2022 — would eventually fizzle out. Unprecedented supply growth in recent years, catalyzed by historically low interest rates and insatiable demand and taken to perhaps the highest of highs in Texas, has, unsurprisingly, generated cyclical pain in subsequent years. True, that pain is submarket-specific and is likely on its way out, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s tough sledding for many multifamily owners right now. “Multifamily has had almost everything possible thrown at it in the past few years: interest rates rising, rental rates flatlining due to supply growth and operating expenses going up across multiple categories, from payroll to insurance to repairs/maintenance,” says John Griggs, co-CEO and co-founder of Texas-based developer Presidium. “Everything started flipping the wrong way at the same time. Some of those variables may correct in our favor, but it’s now been …
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