For all Top 50 NMHC third-party management firms, the subject of managing rising operating costs is a topic that has come to be front and center in many recent client conversations. “As 2025 budget discussions were taking center stage toward the end of 2024, our clients increasingly highlighted the issues of rising operating costs,” says Lisa Narducci-Nix, director of business development at Drucker + Falk. “This trend”, she adds, “underscores our need for strategic planning and cost management to navigate the continued challenges ahead.” The multifamily sector is facing unprecedented headwinds as operating costs continue to rise, driven by factors ranging from inflation and labor shortages to increased insurance premiums and energy expenses. As a result, multifamily operators are working to find ways to maintain profitability while providing quality living spaces for their residents. “In this challenging environment, it is clear to us that adapting to these rising costs will require a multifaceted approach — one that blends innovation, strategic marketing, operational efficiency and technological adoption,” says Narducci-Nix. Challenges of rising costs Across its 11-state footprint spanning over 42,000 units, Drucker + Falk has seen operating costs for many of its managed assets surge in recent years. The supply chain …
By Mike Stromberg, Opus Kansas City made the list of emerging industrial markets back in 2016, and over the last nine years has more than proven itself to be a viable, profitable and competitive environment for development. Many rightly attribute the market’s continued growth to its central location within the U.S. as well as its transportation infrastructure, which includes the city’s location on the largest navigable inland waterway, at the cross-section of three interstate highways and in the middle of cross-country rail corridors running from Canada to Mexico and from coast to coast. These are unquestionably appealing features for businesses that want and need to quickly distribute products and access customers. Other qualities often lauded include a strong skilled labor pool with an estimated 2.4 million people — nearly 23 percent between the ages of 18 to 34 — living within a 50-mile radius of the city; a cost of living up to 14 percent lower than the national average; a historically low unemployment rate; and increasing wages above the national average. What really puts Kansas City on the map for developers, though, is how the state of Missouri has created a pro-business environment that leverages and advances these strengths. …
By Taylor Williams According to the results of Texas Real Estate Business’ annual reader forecast survey, to many commercial brokers and owners in Texas, the change of power in the White House is very much a good thing. In the survey, respondents across a wide range of commercial jobs, practices and asset classes shared expectations for 2025 across an even wider range of topics. But as is usually the case every fourth December, it was the results of the presidential election that generated the most insight and feedback from participants. Like the man himself, the commentary on Donald Trump was often polarizing, but it’s a welcome respite from years of focusing on inflation and interest rates. Across two separate surveys, 45 brokers and owners/developers answered, via free-response format, the same question of how Trump’s re-election would impact the industry in the short run. Though in their entirety, responses ran the gamut from effusive to disheartened and everything in between — with many respondents unsurprisingly opting to remain anonymous — the overall resulting feeling is clearly one of optimism. During his first term as president, Trump, a major commercial developer himself, routinely pressured the Federal Reserve to lower interest rates, which …
This year, multifamily housing starts nationally are on pace to hit their lowest levels since 2014, a period marked by the national economy’s gradual recovery from the Great Financial Crisis. Year to date, multifamily deliveries have exceeded starts by 218,500 units, creating a substantial shortfall that signals a significantly reduced apartment supply by 2026. The same trend is taking effect in Raleigh-Durham, where completions exceeded starts by 4,935 units. This is a key consideration for most apartment investment strategies today, explaining why many buyers are willing to accept Year 1 challenges such as softness or negative leverage. As the current supply wave peaks in the Triangle, the future pipeline of multifamily construction is shaping up quite different. Of the identified units that are scheduled for delivery in 2024, nearly 42 percent of units have been delivered as of this writing. Of the approximately 18,600 apartments currently under construction across the Triangle, 13,343 of those are expected to be delivered by the end of third-quarter 2025, with a majority in Central and Southeast Raleigh. However, new activity has slowed significantly — inventory growth by 2027 is projected to drop by more than 85 percent, plummeting to a 3.6 percent rate compared …
— By Giovanna Abraham, Market Intelligence Analyst, Avison Young — The Las Vegas office market continues to defy broader national trends, maintaining resilience and attracting attention for its stability and growth. While many U.S. cities struggle with rising office vacancies, Las Vegas stands out for its comparatively low vacancy rate, steady rent growth and positive return-to-office trends. Despite recent increases in vacancy, Las Vegas remains well below national averages, with a vacancy rate of 15.2 percent in the third quarter — 850 basis points lower than the national availability rate of 23.7 percent. This performance reflects the unique dynamics shaping the Las Vegas office market, including a steadily growing population and the city’s appeal as a business-friendly destination. Low Vacancy Rates and a Stable MarketOffice vacancy has gradually increased over the past six quarters, but Las Vegas has also experienced a much slower rise than many larger metropolitan markets. This measured growth has allowed the city to remain competitive, with vacancies rebounding to pre-pandemic levels by late 2021 and holding steady through first-quarter 2023. After brief upticks in the first half of 2024, the vacancy rate declined again by third-quarter 2024, dropping from 15.9 percent to 15.2 percent. This resilience …
By Maya Khan, managing director, CBIZ Between the pandemic and the advent of hybrid work, it’s been a challenging stretch for the New York City office market. But savvy investors see skies clearing as interest rates come down and more employers call workers back to the office. The stabilizing market also offers new opportunities for office-to-residential conversions, thanks to recently enacted state and city incentives. In fact, office buildings sold for such purposes accounted for 50 percent of all development sales in Manhattan in the first half of 2024, according to data from Ariel Property Advisors. In what follows, we’ll take a deeper dive into those trends and look at how some New York real estate leaders who spoke at CBIZ’s “Manhattan to Main Street” panel are taking advantage of the current environment. The event, held in the fall of 2024, focused on the more than $2 trillion in commercial real estate debt that is set to mature before 2028 and broader economic factors influencing the New York real estate market; it drew 85 attendees from the local real estate community. Opportunity on the Upswing It’s no secret that the Big Apple’s office sector has taken a beating in the …
By Garrett Cohoon, Block & Co. Inc. Realtors The commercial real estate activity in the Kansas City metropolitan area showed substantial growth in 2024 for the retail, multifamily and industrial sectors. The office sector is still seeing record vacancy rates, but the annual loss over 2023 is slowing down. According to CoStar, the office vacancy rate for 2024 is up 11.8 percent in Kansas City while the national index is at a 13.9 percent increase. That’s only 0.5 percent higher than last year in Kansas City and we expect to see that trend turn around in the next year. The retail sector saw new brands like Aritzia grow into the Kansas City market. Whataburger opened its 14th location in the past two years as drive-thru restaurants have continued to be a preference for consumers and investors alike. Wellness-based businesses and health clinics have also made good strides in the market. Kansas City has seen an increase in new experiential attractions this year, including national businesses like Puttery minigolf, Andretti indoor karting and SandBox VR. These new attractions have been key to many new development complexes and redevelopments of existing strip centers. Mattel also announced a new adventure park to be …
By William McDonough, vice president, Weitzman San Antonio’s retail market is reporting record-high occupancy as it continues its longest-ever streak of balanced supply and demand. With a new high of 95.2 percent, the Alamo City retail market has now posted healthy occupancy rates of 90 percent or higher for 14 years straight. The occupancy rate is based on Weitzman’s review of a total San Antonio retail inventory of approximately 49 million square feet of retail space in multi-tenant shopping centers with 25,000 square feet or more. Occupancy remains high due to stable tenant retention and strong demand for well-located vacancies. For example, shortly after Conn’s announced in mid-2024 that it planned to close its area stores, discount apparel retailer Burlington announced its plans to backfill three of the nine stores slated for closure. The market is also reporting an increase in new construction, but the deliveries overall have actually increased occupancy due to the fact that they are primarily for anchor stores and largely preleased shop space. Last year, the market did see new vacancies created due to the chain-wide failures of Conn’s, Big Lots, American Freight Furniture and 99 Cents Only. But in a tight market like San Antonio’s, …
— By Roy Fritz, First Vice President, CBRE Retail Investment Properties – West — Las Vegas’s retail investment market continues to hit the jackpot, mirroring the lucky winners that visit the city every week. The Valley remains a magnet for growth, attracting new investors who would never have considered Las Vegas in the past. High-profile recent additions like the state-of-the-art, 70,000-seat Allegiant Stadium, Formula 1 Las Vegas Grand Prix race, MSG Sphere and the Fontainebleau luxury resort and casino have retailers and investors drawn to the city’s bright lights as they seek out that next big win. Major League Baseball is also making its mark in Las Vegas with the Oakland Athletics’ planned move to the city. The new stadium, set to open in 2028, will feature a 33,000-seat capacity and state-of-the-art amenities. It will also further cement Las Vegas as a premier sports and entertainment destination. This growth is supported by strong underlying fundamentals and economic diversification. The sentiment across the Valley’s business landscape is that the area has clearly transitioned from a tertiary market, which was highly dependent on Southern California capital just a few years ago, to a solid secondary market. This transformation has attracted investments from all …
In the summer of 2012, fresh out of college and starting my career in retail brokerage at KLNB, a seasoned retail broker-turned-developer warned me to consider other careers. “Retail is dying,” he said. “Why would people go to stores when it’s so easy to order online?” Well, it’s been 12 years since that moment, and I’m still waiting for the retail boogeyman to appear. As I write this, I’m happy to report he hasn’t arrived — and the data suggests he’s nowhere in sight. The Washington, D.C., metropolitan statistical area (MSA) is now in its tightest fundamental position on record due to limited new supply and continued demand from national, regional and franchised concepts. In the Washington, D.C. market, we have the second-lowest retail square footage per capita among major MSAs, with new retail supply representing just 0.4 percent of total inventory. This places the Capital Region in the bottom quartile of retail real estate inventory growth among national MSAs that have more than 100 million square feet of existing inventory. The result? Retail availability in the D.C. metro has decreased to 4.8 percent (compared to the national average of 4.7 percent), down from 5.1 percent year-over-year and 5.3 percent …