— By Patrick Bodnar of CBRE — Utah’s multifamily market remains one of the most resilient and compelling real estate environments in the country, supported by exceptional economic fundamentals and a steadily tightening development pipeline. Utah once again ranked No. 1 in the nation in 2025 in the American Legislative Exchange Council’s (ALEC) economic outlook index, marking its 18th consecutive year at the top and earning high marks for overall performance, labor participation and business affordability. These strengths, paired with ongoing population and job growth, continue to reinforce consistent long-term demand for rental housing across the Wasatch Front. Against this backdrop, rent trends are beginning to shift. After several years of rent stagnation driven by elevated supply, rent growth is positioned to rebound in the second half of 2026. The past three years were characterized by relatively flat asking rents, but CBRE’s analysis indicates that future rent growth is approaching as new deliveries decline and supply is absorbed. This shift is largely the result of two converging factors: a meaningful slowdown in new construction starts — driven by higher interest rates and sustained construction cost pressures — and persistently strong absorption, which places Utah among the top-performing absorption markets in …
By Derek Lichtfuss, Newmark Columbus, Ohio, is emerging as one of the nation’s most dynamic industrial markets. With a strategic location, robust infrastructure and a diversified economy, the metro area is attracting industrial, manufacturing and logistics investment at a pace rivaling traditional coastal hubs. According to Newmark Research, Columbus’ industrial market closed 2025 with positive absorption of 8.8 million square feet — ranking among the top five U.S. markets. Remarkably, the fourth quarter alone contributed more than 3 million square feet, marking the second consecutive quarter above that threshold. The market’s fundamentals underscore its strength. Vacancy ended the year at 7.2 percent, down from 9.7 percent in 2024. Asking rents, while largely flat in 2025, have climbed for six consecutive years, reflecting steady demand. More than 5.2 million square feet are currently under construction, signaling developer confidence. Drivers of growth Several factors drive the city’s momentum. Columbus benefits from an exceptional logistics profile. The metro area can reach roughly 50 percent of the U.S. population within a one-day drive or train, bolstered by I-70, I-71 and the second-largest inland port at Rickenbacker International Airport. Its multimodal capabilities — including Norfolk Southern rail and cargo air — have made it a …
By Jason Penighetti of Forchelli Deegan Terrana Whenever commercial property owners challenge their real estate tax assessments, two critical dates are significant: the taxable status date and the valuation date. While the two dates sound as if they could be interchangeable, each serves distinct purposes and is firmly established in law. More to the point, confusing the two can derail even the strongest assessment challenge. The taxable status date is the point in time when assessors determine the property’s ownership and physical condition. This process serves to answer two questions: who owns the property, and what does it look like? This date typically falls early in the calendar year. Many New York jurisdictions utilize a March 1 taxable status date, as does Connecticut. In New Jersey, the key date is Oct. 1 of the prior year, while in Massachusetts, it falls on Jan 1. As of that day, assessors look at two components: the ownership of the parcel and its condition. Events occurring afterward generally do not affect the current year’s assessment. If a new addition is completed after the taxable status date, it will not increase that year’s value. Likewise, if a property suffers catastrophic damage or partial demolition …
![[solidcore]-Houston](https://rebusinessonline.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/04/solidcore-Houston.jpg "[solidcore]-Houston")
By Jason Baker, principal at Baker Katz If you’re only following the national headlines, retail real estate can seem like it’s still defined by store closures and disruption. That’s still part of the story, but on the ground in Houston, the picture is more balanced. Fundamentals remain strong and occupancy remains high across the market. Even as new projects reach completion and new space comes on line, demand continues to keep pace. When space becomes available, it doesn’t sit for long — often with multiple deals competing for a single vacancy. What’s changing is what types of retailers are taking the space. That shift is just as important as the strength of the market. Service-oriented retail, in particular, is emerging as a stabilizing force in Houston. From Goods to Services According to recent data compiled by CoStar Group and analyzed by The Wall Street Journal, for the first time, service-oriented tenants now occupy more retail space nationally than traditional goods-based retailers. In Houston, that trend is clear in leasing activity. A significant share of the leasing activity today is driven by service categories such as health and wellness, medical, med spas, fitness, beauty and pet care. These are the tenants …
Birmingham’s retail market continues to show steady momentum as it moves into a new phase, defined by limited supply, strong tenant demand in key corridors and a growing focus on open-air, lifestyle environments. While higher interest rates and construction costs slowed new development activity over the past couple of years, Birmingham’s most established retail corridors have remained active. Well-located centers continue to lease space quickly, and redevelopment opportunities are beginning to reshape several of the MSA’s outdated retail properties. One of the defining characteristics of Birmingham’s retail landscape today is the limited availability of high-quality space in prime locations. Much of the vacancy that emerged during the pandemic has been absorbed, particularly in grocery-anchored centers and lifestyle-oriented districts. As a result, retailers looking for space in established corridors often face a fairly competitive leasing environment. Demand remains strong among quick-service restaurants (QSRs), boutique fitness operators, medical and service retailers and fast-casual and high-end dining concepts. Birmingham’s suburban growth corridors and mixed-use environments offer many of these advantages, allowing landlords in the most desirable centers to maintain strong occupancy while gradually pushing rents higher. Lifestyle centers Open-air lifestyle environments continue to set the standard for Birmingham’s retail landscape. The best example …
— By Mike Embree of Drawbridge Realty — After 16 consecutive quarters of either negative or negligible net absorption, Salt Lake City’s office market closed 2025 on a positive note. The end result was 114,700 square feet of direct occupancy gains, per Cushman & Wakefield. This resulted in 263,000 square feet of direct absorption for the year, spurring a 500-basis point decline in the direct vacancy rate, which now stands at 19.4 percent. It’s too early to say that the market has turned the corner, but the signs are promising. For landlords, one positive in a market with about 10 million square feet of availability is that new office construction has effectively stalled for now. Only one building was delivered in 2025, adding just 180,000 square feet to the existing inventory with no new office projects on the drawing board. At the same time, more than a dozen buildings were removed from the office leasing market, either by developers pursuing multifamily conversions or purchases by owner-users. One such sale occurred in the fourth quarter when the Salt Lake City Corporation of Public Utilities purchased One Airport Tech, a two-story, 87,657-square-foot building near Airport Technology Park campus. C&W data notes …
By Anders Pesavento, Cushman & Wakefield If you have ever been to a pro sports game or a concert and felt that collective buzz, you know exactly what I mean — it is electric. The kind of energy that makes you look around and think, right, this is why we do this. I felt it first-hand when the Cross Country Skiing World Cup came to Minneapolis in 2024, and more than 30,000 people packed into one place to cheer on the athletes. That day was a reminder you cannot replicate with a livestream or a group chat: humans feed off other humans. The office market is tapping into that same instinct, just in a quieter way. That is why the conversation has moved from whether office matters to which offices matter. It is not a blanket comeback. It is a sorting. We are not rewinding to 2019. Companies are using spaces differently and choosing buildings that help them recruit and retain talent. Hybrid schedules are real, but so is the need for culture, onboarding and collaboration that works best face-to-face. That shift makes “vacancy” a blunt instrument. Real vacancy is the space that is truly available in buildings that can …
By Connor Watson, senior vice president, Partners Real Estate For years, the investment narrative around medical office as an asset class has been simple: stable demand, recession-resistant tenants and steady growth driven by the shift to outpatient care. That narrative is still true, but it’s incomplete. What’s shaping the next phase of healthcare real estate isn’t just demand. It’s a growing imbalance on the supply side. And in markets like Texas, that imbalance is becoming even more pronounced. Demand Isn’t the Story Anymore As a trend in healthcare real estate, outpatient migration is well understood at this point. Procedures continue to take place outside of traditional hospitals and within lower-cost settings like medical office buildings and ambulatory surgery centers. In Texas, that demand is amplified due to the following reasons: These economic and demographic trends have resulted in consistent tenant demand, high occupancy across most major markets and strong rates of retention from healthcare providers. But demand alone doesn’t create outsized opportunities; constraints do. The Real Shift: Supply Is Slowing Down New medical office development has quietly pulled back over the past several years. Not because demand isn’t there, but because the economics have changed. That shift is especially visible …
Conditions in Birmingham’s apartment market vary by submarket heading into 2026. Several recently completed developments downtown are still stabilizing, creating short-term leasing pressure, while suburban areas across the metro continue to see steady renter demand. Much of the new multifamily development in Birmingham over the past several years has been concentrated in the downtown core. As a result, many of these properties are still working through lease-ups. Marcus & Millichap research projects roughly 670 apartments will be delivered across the metro this year, with vacancy expected to hover around 6.1 percent and average effective rents near $1,302 per month. That level of supply has created temporary softness in parts of the downtown market. Some newly delivered communities are offering concessions during lease-up periods as owners compete for tenants. In certain cases, owners are choosing to refinance rather than bring assets to market while occupancy stabilizes. These conditions are typical when several projects deliver within the same submarket over a short period of time. Outside the city center, Birmingham’s suburban apartment submarkets continue to perform well. Cities including Homewood, Vestavia Hills and Hoover remain among the metro’s most stable suburbs. Shelby County cities, including Pelham and Alabaster, are also seeing consistent …
— By Rebecca Lloyd of Cushman & Wakefield — Salt Lake City’s industrial market ended 2025 in a transitional period defined by rising vacancy, shifting demand across product types, and heightened activity in both peripheral submarkets and the owner‑user segment. Overall vacancy climbed to 7.9 percent, driven by more than 8.5 million square feet of new warehouse/distribution deliveries since early 2024, nearly half of which remain available. This is particularly apparent in the North West submarket, which continues to dominate the region’s industrial footprint. Despite this supply influx, tenant demand held firm with 5.9 million square feet of new leasing activity recorded in 2025. Absorption remained steady across small and mid-sized facilities, with monthly net asking rents remaining stable at $0.80 to $0.81 per square foot. Smaller 10,000- to 100,00-square-foot buildings posted the tightest availability at 6 percent vacancy, while larger big box properties over 100,000 square feet saw vacancy rise to 15.7 percent, widening the performance gap between segments. Land scarcity, power constraints and elevated development costs continue to limit opportunities in core Salt Lake submarkets, forcing more tenants and developers to pivot toward Utah County. This is where a sizeable 4-million-square-foot proposed development pipeline is helping narrow …