Market Reports

Momentum in the local industrial market has been maintained because of Memphis’ world-class infrastructure offering the “four Rs” of transportation: river, road, rail and runway. Thanks to Memphis’ central location, truck freight can reach 65 percent of the nation’s population in 24 hours. The Port of Memphis is the fifth-largest inland port in the United States and an east-west highway spans the width of the country. As home to FedEx Global Headquarters and a UPS hub, Memphis International Airport surpassed Hong Kong International Airport this year as the busiest cargo airport in the world. The direct vacancy rate of the metro industrial market went from 6.5 percent in 2020 to 4.8 percent by mid-2021. Currently, there is 13.7 million square feet of inventory under construction with over 75 percent of it being speculative. The demand and recent growth continue to improve in 2021. Net absorption is above 5.3 million square feet with tenants like Yeti, Walgreens, Hamilton Beach and Amazon moving into new facilities mid-year. Rents have also continued to rise faster than the national average in many years. The average rent growth over the past 12 months is 6.9 percent, or $4 per square foot. Large preleased facilities are …

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By Jerry Fiume, SVN Summit Commercial Real Estate Advisors You’ve heard it before. In Akron, everything is earned, and nothing is given. No quote better represents the fabric of the City of Akron, Summit County and Northeast Ohio. Aside from an unstoppable work ethic, the other key characteristic of our marketplace is one of steady consistency. Our pricing is steady, our cap rates are steady and our opportunities are steady. With that said, there is a renaissance underway in our area. Akron is experiencing residential growth driven by a 15-year, 100 percent residential tax abatement program for all new residential and multifamily construction. This also applies to recent rehabilitation work, helping Akron stand out as a competitive and attractive place to invest in real estate. Plus, increased residential investment will continue to attract more commercial investment. Akron has made a significant investment in its downtown neighborhood, spurring significant residential, retail and office growth. The city invested $30 million to facelift Main Street, including several significant mixed-use projects like The Bowery and the 159, creating a better-looking, more walkable downtown that is becoming a premier place to live. Hundreds of new apartments have been constructed in former office buildings, and hundreds …

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The Memphis multifamily market has recently captured attention from prospective buyers with some impressive statistics. With 2020 rent growth at 6.6 percent and year-to-date 2021 at 10.5 percent year-over-year, the metropolitan showed resiliency through a turbulent period as peer Sun Belt cities experienced stagnancy and even decreases in rents. This trend has put the metropolitan area on acquisition radars and garnered sales to new-to-market buyers looking to plant a flag in the market. But it raises questions concerning the longevity and sustainability of the rent growth. By taking a further look at the market’s fundamentals, economic drivers and rent trends across market segments, we can shed some light on this over-arching question. Logistics and healthcare Memphis’ stable 2020 and 2021 multifamily performance is grounded by an economy rooted in logistics and medical services. Within the Memphis metropolitan area, 42 percent of the workforce is in the transportation/logistics or education and health service industries, compared to a national aggregate of 20 percent. The growing reliance of these industries insulated the Memphis economy from the worst of repercussions stemming from the pandemic-induced recession. While quarterly wages decreased an average of 6.5 percent in peer markets in the second quarter of last year, …

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By Jon Krebbs, managing director, The Multifamily Group The COVID-19 crisis has certainly had a heavy impact on many sectors of the economy; however, the multifamily sector still has had a triumphant year. The Dallas apartment sector has maintained healthy occupancy in 2021, and the investment side of the market is picking up due to buyers having constrained capital during the height of the public health crisis in 2020. Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) has benefited from major corporate relocations since the 1980s. Over the last decade, corporate interest has expanded and that brought multiple Fortune 500 companies’ headquarters to the region due to its pro-business conditions.  It is no wonder why the market is on the radar of C-suite leaders and governing boards — its favorable workforce, affordable cost of housing, lack of state income tax and steady supply of new apartment buildings are all factors. Simply put, apartment investors regard DFW as an opportunity for growth.  Between 2019 to 2020, approximately 120,000 people from outside the metroplex have been added to the local population. This number has substantially increased over the last two years due to COVID-19. Market Overview The Dallas multifamily market has been hot for the last seven …

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By Matthew Harding, CEO, Levin Management Corp. Serving as one-stop destinations to meet consumers’ daily needs, open-air shopping centers — especially those with grocery anchors — have long been a fan favorite of shoppers, tenants and investors. Over the past 18 months, this asset class has again proven its ability to adapt and serve in any market climate — and under the most challenging of circumstances.  Operational Flexibility Is Key By their nature, neighborhood, community and power centers provide a higher level of operational flexibility than other commercial product types. For example, during pandemic-fueled business interruptions, open-air environments enabled tenants to be more creative and accommodate new or expanded uses. This included increasing outdoor space for dining or fitness classes and expanding fulfillment options by setting up curbside pick up. Levin Management’s own mid-year survey of store managers within our leased and managed portfolio, which is comprised largely of open-air product, showed that many of the changes that were made out of necessity last year are now being kept as best practices. For the most part, tenants are responding to stepped-up prioritization of customer convenience. We have seen how quickly shoppers came back out once they could. Ultimately, people like …

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By Scott Olson, Skogman Commercial On Aug. 10, 2020, eastern Iowa was hit with a derecho. This is the Spanish word for a widespread, long-lived, straight-line windstorm that is associated with a fast-moving group of several thunderstorms. Winds in southwest Cedar Rapids were estimated to be 140 miles per hour with the entire city of 75 square miles sustaining major damage. The statistics are staggering: • Cedar Rapids lost 669,000 mature trees, about 70 percent of its urban canopy. The storm left at least 4.5 million cubic yards of debris. Stacked 35 feet tall and wide, it would extend a whopping 24 miles. • 6,000 homes and properties were damaged. As repairs and reconstruction got underway, the city issued 25,000 building permits in fiscal-year 2021, more than double the number in a typical year. • City government buildings suffered $20 million in damage, while the business community reported losses totaling $170 million. About $70 million of that was the result of derecho-related shutdowns or power outages. • The state cumulatively sustained $11.5 billion in damage, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, which calls the Aug. 10 derecho “the costliest thunderstorm in U.S. history.” However, as evidenced in the …

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By Cynthia Cowen, managing director, Cushman & Wakefield Throughout the past 18 months, there has been an ongoing discussion about returning to the office. Culturally, financially, production-wise — does it make sense to return? There is so much that goes into making these decisions, and there isn’t a simple yes or no answer.  It might depend on the industry, the generational differences among employees, the job functions being performed and more. Baby boomers tend to be critical of millennials’ desire to have greater balance and their preference for working at home, but what about recent college grads? They need to absorb as much as information as they can, but how do they achieve that at home? What about those in child-bearing years? They may want to stay home to juggle it all under one roof. In 25-plus years in the commercial real estate industry, our team has never witnessed employees possess so much control. In speaking with tenant representation brokers and their clients, the message remains that employers are struggling to figure out how to get their employees to come back to the office.  According to Cushman & Wakefield’s “Workplace Ecosystems of the Future” report, there is a strong consensus …

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Memphis is a city with a soul and is internationally famous for music, food and entertainment. The city draws over 12 million tourists annually, but less publicized is that Memphis is home to six Fortune 1,000 companies (FedEx, International Paper, AutoZone, Terminix, First Horizon and Sylvamo). Additionally, the city’s employment base includes a robust healthcare community with St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the University of Tennessee Medical School and Regional One Health. Plus, Memphis is known as “America’s Aerotropolis” with the second busiest cargo airport in the world, Memphis International Airport. The Memphis metro statistical area (MSA) has jobs, low cost of living and a relatively young population with an average age of 34. There is a perception that the population is flocking to Nashville, but the latest Census Bureau statics show that between 2013 and 2017, slightly more Nashvillians moved to Memphis than the reverse. Memphis’ unique trade area encompasses parts of Arkansas and Mississippi, leveraging Interstates 40, 55 and 22 with the new Interstate 269 Corridor, a 60-mile half loop around southern Memphis and north Mississippi. The I-269 Corridor links to a web of seven converging highways, serving 152 metro areas and two-thirds of the nation’s population that …

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By Catherine Lueckel and Allison Giomuso, Matthews Real Estate Investment Services In nearly every major metro in the Midwest, the most active retailers expanding, leasing or developing involve grocers, discounters and drive-thru tenants. Most of the activity in the Midwest is reflective of the broader trend in shifting consumer demands, away from wants and more toward needs and services.  Discount retailers  It’s no surprise that discount retailers rose in popularity among shoppers during economic uncertainty, as they offer products for a fraction of the price. This trend is very apparent in the Midwest, with consumers focusing on value through the wake of the economic recovery. While discount retailers offer the best value in their products, they equally search for the best value in their real estate. Their expansion goals align closely with their financial goals; therefore, they target the Midwest, where deals are not overvalued and produce a higher rate of return. The Midwest boasts cheaper real estate compared with other regions, and more robust growth due to the affordable cost of living and lower costs of doing business. Discount-oriented retailers dominated Ohio’s leasing activity, specifically in Cleveland, where they accounted for the most move-ins and top leases in 2020. …

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By Hank Wolfer, First Vice President of Investments, and Derek Peterson, Associate, Marcus & Millichap National retail chains favor Seattle’s surrounding neighborhoods. Prior to the pandemic, retailers were taking notice of strong demographic trends in the submarkets surrounding Seattle. Between 2009 and 2019, the number of households across the metropolitan area grew by 13 percent, nearly double the national rate. High homeownership costs directed many of those new households to the suburbs where living expenses are lower. Following rooftops, multiple developers have pursued expansion opportunities in these areas, with recently opened projects in locations like Renton, Frederickson and Shelton. These new floor plans are drawing prominent retailers, including 7-Eleven and medical provider DaVita Dialysis, as well as fast food operators like Popeyes. Although initially challenged by lockdowns, these facilities are poised to benefit from the ongoing economic recovery. Suburban properties are outperforming urban counterparts. While no tenant was free of pandemic-induced challenges, operations outside the urban core proved more resistant on average. Vacancy in downtown Seattle rose 80 basis points over the 12-month period that ended in March. This is compared with a 60 basis point climb in Tacoma and a 20 basis point increase in the Southend. Moving through the rest of 2021, metro-wide vacancy is …

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