Market Reports

Has the Raleigh-Durham Office Market Hit Rock Bottom?

by John Nelson February 23, 2026

The Raleigh/Durham office market is not yet in full recovery mode; however, the latest data suggests something just as important: stabilization. Compared to many U.S. office markets still experiencing significant stress, Raleigh-Durham is holding its ground — and in several respects, outperforming national trends. Currently, the combined Raleigh-Durham office market totals approximately 118.7 million square feet, with Raleigh making up roughly two-thirds of the inventory and Durham the remainder. Together, they form one of the Southeast’s most dynamic and resilient office regions. Vacancy elevated, improving While higher than pre-pandemic norms, vacancy is trending better than many peer markets. Raleigh’s vacancy rate currently sits around 11.1 percent, while Durham’s vacancy rate is approximately 9.8 percent, according to research from CoStar Group. Combined, this market boasts a blended office vacancy rate of roughly 10.7 percent, well below the 14.1 percent national average. Over the past 12 months, Raleigh recorded positive net absorption of approximately 574,000 square feet, while Durham experienced negative absorption of about 480,000 square feet. Combined, the market landed near equilibrium, which sends an encouraging signal that the market is no longer sliding backward, even if growth remains uneven. The area’s post-pandemic growth is shaped by hybrid work models, changing …

February 23, 2026

Arizona Industrial Market Reports Western Western Market Reports

Choppy Seas, Clear Signals: Phoenix Industrial Splits in Two

by John Nelson February 20, 2026

— By Rob Martensen of Colliers — The Phoenix industrial market has always resembled a rough sea with lots of highs and lows. The market’s industrial real estate community is full of strong, confident captains who have weathered the high seas to reach the destination of a balanced market. The challenges of today are no different than those in any other market: how do we stay resilient, stay active and stay in business? Phoenix has experienced very strong absorption, mostly from the big-box market. User sales and leases have led the way, with Walmart and Dollar Tree among the most active. Then there’s the cherry on top: another big Amazon lease. What’s bigger than all of that? Retail discounter Burlington is closing on 178 acres in Buckeye to build a 2.1-million-square-foot distribution center. The latest quarterly numbers reinforce this momentum: fourth-quarter vacancy dipped below 10 percent to 9.7 percent, while year-to-date absorption totaled a healthy 18,228,088 square feet, representing some of the highest levels in the U.S. Yes, the big-box market is alive and well…but that’s only one side of today’s story. What’s struggling the most in Phoenix is mid-bay, the most common type of product built post-COVID. Some of …

February 20, 2026

Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri Office

Prime Office Space in St. Louis: Scarcity and Strategy

by Kristin Harlow February 19, 2026

By Joshua Allen and David Kelpe, JLL One year ago, CBRE Research forecasted a shortage of prime office space in Heartland Real Estate Business. That prediction has proven accurate. Since the beginning of 2025, demand for top-tier office space has continued to drive leasing activity across the region. This persistent appetite for quality has pushed prime Class A availability to record lows, creating a competitive environment for tenants and landlords alike. The St. Louis office market encompasses approximately 53 million square feet of competitive space. Yet, a closer look reveals a critical challenge: 73 percent of this inventory was constructed before the 1990s. This aging supply base means that only 2.6 million square feet qualifies as truly “prime” — the newest, most desirable assets located in walkable urban areas with abundant amenities. These buildings represent the gold standard for tenants seeking modern design, energy efficiency and proximity to vibrant neighborhoods. Currently, prime Class A availability sits at a mere 5.5 percent, a stark contrast to the 25.2 percent average for non-prime Class A assets. This gap reflects a clear and ongoing preference among tenants for buildings that combine high-quality construction with strategic location. In short, companies are willing to pay …

February 19, 2026

Industrial Market Reports North Carolina Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Strong Industrial Fundamentals, Smart Supply Fuel Momentum in the Triangle

by John Nelson February 16, 2026

The Triangle’s industrial market continues to hold strong fundamentals heading into the new year. A disciplined construction pipeline, low vacancy and high absorption fuel the market’s steady success. Disciplined constructionIndustrial developers have been incredibly disciplined when delivering new product to the Raleigh-Durham market, which has kept vacancy below 7 percent — a significantly stronger rate than peer Sun Belt markets as a result of record levels of development in recent years. With absorption rates in the Triangle averaging nearly 3 million square feet per year in the past five years, this healthy rate of delivery and absorption has propped up the region’s industrial market. That being said, the Raleigh-Durham market infill land supply has its limitations. Industrial-zoned land is difficult to find and acquisition costs are pushing $500,000 per acre in some submarkets, and rezoning is a lengthy 12-month or longer process. For these projects to be financially viable, developers have been increasing rents year-over-year to an average of over $12 per square foot across all submarkets, up from roughly $6 just five years ago. Many institutional occupiers have been willing to pay a premium to be in new, Class A space in these infill areas, but other occupiers are …

February 16, 2026

Arizona Market Reports Restaurant Retail Western Western Market Reports

Phoenix Net Lease Retail Demand Holds Strong

by John Nelson February 13, 2026

— By Walt Brown Jr. of Diversified Partners — Metro Phoenix continues to post strong retail market conditions, supported by expansion-ready corridors, dense and established trade areas, sustained population growth and retail sites positioned at major intersections with strong traffic counts. Even with shifting capital markets and more disciplined underwriting, retail remains one of the metro’s more consistent performers heading into 2026. A defining constraint today is the limited availability of well-located, credit-tenant triple-net product for sale. This is particularly true in “A” locations within “A” trade areas. That scarcity is keeping competition elevated for stabilized assets and reinforcing pricing for deals that offer clean income, durable tenancy and long-term visibility. At the same time, demand for credit-tenant, triple-net transactions remains strong across Arizona, with Metro Phoenix continuing to attract a meaningful share of that activity. A key driver has been capital migration and reinvestment from higher-cost Western markets, including owners selling assets in California and the Pacific Northwest and redeploying proceeds into Phoenix-area retail. For many buyers, the appeal is straightforward: growth, demographics and a business climate that supports continued tenant expansion. On the development side, the market remains supply constrained at the top end of quality. Across the …

February 13, 2026

Data Centers Industrial Market Reports Midwest Midwest Market Reports Missouri

Why Data Centers Are Emerging as a Defining Opportunity for the St. Louis Region

by Kristin Harlow February 12, 2026

By David Steinbach, JLL As artificial intelligence (AI) acceleration, cloud expansion and high-performance computing reshape the digital economy, cities across the U.S. are reevaluating whether they can meaningfully compete for data center investment. St. Louis is increasingly part of that national conversation — and the reasons are structural, not speculative. With competitive power pricing, repurposable industrial infrastructure, developable land and a strengthening policy framework, the region is positioned to capture the next wave of large-scale digital infrastructure. This moment represents more than a real estate opportunity. It’s an inflection point that could redefine the region’s industrial future if public and private stakeholders act in alignment. Cost, infrastructure profile Data center site selection begins with power and connectivity, and St. Louis offers meaningful advantages on both. Missouri’s industrial electricity rates continue to trend below the national average, with the state at 7.69 cents per kilowatt-hour compared with the U.S. industrial average of 8.65 cents per kilowatt-hour, according to the latest EIA data. This is a significant differentiator for large-scale campuses with substantial, long-duration energy needs. The region’s legacy industrial and former generation sites also come with high capacity transmission infrastructure that can be repurposed, reducing both development timelines and the cost …

February 12, 2026

Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Survey: Texas Fundamentals Bolster Optimism for 2026

by Taylor Williams February 10, 2026

By Taylor Williams The results of Texas Real Estate Business’ annual reader forecast survey are in, and they paint a somewhat surprising picture of an optimistic business outlook for the new year. Why surprising? Well, geopolitically speaking, 2026 has already picked up right where 2025 left off. The Trump administration’s capture of Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife in early January touched off a fresh source of geopolitical angst. The administration then subsequently ratcheted up its preexisting talk about Greenland becoming part of the United States, including issuing a threat to impose more tariffs on European countries that opposed that plan. Editor’s note: In mid-November, Texas Real Estate Business sent email invitations to participate in the annual online survey to three separate groups — brokers; developers, owners and managers; and lenders and financial intermediaries. The survey was held open through mid-December. Invitations to participate were also included in the Texas Real Estate Business e-newsletter, as well as through ReBusinessOnline.com. The tariff threat has since been walked back, but it’s hardly an understatement to say that the first month of 2026 has been rocky in terms of geopolitics. And when that happens, it’s anyone’s guess as to just how rattled markets …

February 10, 2026

Market Reports Multifamily North Carolina Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Supply Drought: Why Triangle’s Multifamily Market Is About to Turn the Corner

by John Nelson February 9, 2026

After nearly three years of wrestling with oversupply, Raleigh-Durham’s multifamily market stands at an inflection point that informed investors have been quietly anticipating. The numbers tell a compelling story: construction starts plummeted from around 15,000 units in 2022 to roughly 2,000 in 2024, a staggering 86 percent decline that’s creating the supply drought the market desperately needed. The timing couldn’t be more critical. With an 18-month construction timeline followed by 12 to 16 months of lease-up process, the wave of deliveries from those record 2022 starts peaked in early-to-mid-2025. What comes next is perhaps the most interesting chapter in the Triangle’s multifamily story since our record rent jumps of 2021. Mathematics of recovery The construction cycle’s predictable timeline creates a unique visibility into market dynamics that astute capital allocators are already pricing in. The minimal 2024 starts are translating directly into minimal deliveries stretching from late 2025 through 2028 and beyond, which is essentially a three-year window of supply constraint that stands in stark contrast to the flood of new inventory and increased concessions that plagued 2023 to 2025. Meanwhile, demand fundamentals remain exceptionally strong. Gross absorption hit approximately 11,000 units in 2024 and is tracking toward another 10,000 (estimated) …

February 9, 2026

Industrial Louisiana Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Port Authorities Advance the Southeast’s Industrial Sector With Infrastructural Investments

by John Nelson February 6, 2026

In 2022, the Port of New Orleans (Port NOLA) announced the Louisiana International Terminal (LIT), a new $1.8 billion container terminal coming to Violet, a small city about 10 miles downriver (or south) from New Orleans in St. Bernard Parish. The project is a public-private partnership between Port NOLA and two private maritime industry leaders, Ports America and Terminal Investment Ltd., and is being funded with private capital and public funding from the State of Louisiana and federal sources. The U.S. Army Corps. of Engineers is managing LIT’s environmental review and permitting process, after which the public-private partnership will begin construction. Set for completion in 2028, the ambitious project is expected to generate 18,000 new jobs by 2050 and handle 2 million TEUs (twenty-foot equivalent units) of cargo traffic annually. “I consider it the most important project in the entire region,” says Andrew Marcus, founder of local commercial real estate services firm Agile Coast. “From an economic development perspective and from a quality-of-life perspective, it is the single-most important project for our region, period. The LIT is going to be the beachhead for getting modernized containerized cargo ships to come in, and we have the ability to have several terminals …

February 6, 2026

Arizona Market Reports Multifamily Western Western Market Reports

Phoenix Multifamily Shows Signs of Stabilization Amidst Ongoing Adjustment

by John Nelson February 6, 2026

— By Karl Abert and Bret Zinn of Kidder Mathews — The Phoenix multifamily market is still digesting the effects of an unprecedented development cycle, while beginning to show early signs of stabilization. Although near-term operating fundamentals remain challenged, several forward-looking indicators suggest the market is gradually moving toward equilibrium as it enters 2026. Vacancy increased to 12.6 percent in the fourth quarter, up 80 basis points year over year, according to Kidder Mathews research. This reflects the cumulative impact of elevated construction deliveries over the past several years. Average asking rents declined 3 percent year over year to $1,529 per unit, underscoring the competitive leasing environment owners continue to face. These trends confirm that Phoenix remains in a tenant-favorable phase of the cycle, particularly in submarkets that experienced outsized levels of new supply. Encouragingly, the development pipeline is contracting meaningfully. Units under construction declined nearly 30 percent year over year, while last year’s deliveries fell sharply compared to 2024. This slowdown represents a critical inflection point for the market. As new supply tapers, demand will have greater opportunity to absorb existing inventory, setting the stage for gradual improvement in occupancy and rent growth. While net absorption remained positive in …

February 6, 2026

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