Southeast Market Reports

Mid-Atlantic Retail Market Is Experiencing Methodical Growth

by John Nelson March 30, 2026

Retail real estate across the Mid-Atlantic is having a moment — but it’s a disciplined one. As fundamentals remain healthy in Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., the region is seeing a notably more selective approach to retail growth. Years of limited new development, zoning constraints and rising construction costs have tightened supply, pushing owners, investors and municipalities to be far more intentional about what gets built — and where. Sources interviewed for this article point to the sustained demand for well-located shopping centers, such as those anchored by strong tenants, daily-needs retailers and dense surrounding populations.“Retail today is about durability,” states Mike Castellitto, chief operating officer of Broad Reach Retail Partners. “Assets that serve essential, repeat-use visitors continue to outperform and attract both tenants and investors.” Shifting consumer preferences in VirginiaFrom Washington, D.C.’s dense suburban corridors to fast-growing secondary markets, Virginia’s retail real estate landscape remains one of the Mid-Atlantic’s steadiest performers. The Commonwealth’s strongest retail fundamentals are often seen in Northern Virginia and select regional hubs like metro Philadelphia, Virginia Beach and Richmond, where household income growth and population density create robust demand. Jim Ashby, senior vice president of the Retail Services Group at Cushman & Wakefield | Thalhimer, …

March 30, 2026

Market Reports Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Nashville Retail Market: Strength, Scarcity and Shifting Demand

by John Nelson March 23, 2026

Nashville’s retail market continues to outperform many peer metros across the Southeast, supported by steady population growth, a diversified employment base and a prolonged period of limited new supply. Despite broader economic uncertainty and rising operating costs, fundamentals across Middle Tennessee remain healthy, with vacancy holding near historically low levels. Tight conditions, leasing That strength is reflected in current occupancy trends. Retail vacancy throughout the region sits at approximately 3.6 percent, signaling sustained tenant demand within a constrained inventory environment. New construction has remained limited as elevated material and labor costs have pushed many proposed developments outside workable underwriting thresholds. As a result, existing centers, particularly well-located neighborhood and suburban assets, continue to capture consistent leasing activity. Core, emerging submarkets Demand remains strongest in Nashville’s core and established growth corridors, including Green Hills, Vanderbilt/West End, 12th South/Wedgewood-Houston, Charlotte Pike/Sylvan Park and the Cool Springs pocket of Franklin. These areas benefit from dense residential growth, strong household incomes and reliable consumer traffic, supporting above-average rent levels. At the same time, tightening availability and rising barriers to entry in the urban core have accelerated growth across surrounding satellite markets. Submarkets such as Lebanon, Clarksville, Murfreesboro and Smyrna have emerged as meaningful retail …

March 23, 2026

Market Reports Office Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee Uncategorized

Nashville’s Office Market Is Defined by Resiliency, Momentum

by John Nelson March 16, 2026

With office leasing and development, we’re always looking forward to the next big thing. Nashville’s office market is no exception to that. Sometimes no news is good news, though. That may be the case with the metro’s office development, where only four projects totaling 279,320 square feet were underway at the close of 2025 — 44.1 percent of which was preleased. At the beginning of 2020, Nashville’s construction pipeline was nearly 10 percent of its inventory size — the second-highest share out of any U.S. metro. Since then, 8.5 million square feet of office product has been delivered, and despite overlapping with a global pandemic, nearly 80 percent of it has been leased — underscoring the market’s appetite for quality office space. While that office space has not been absorbed as quickly as some had hoped, market trends and activity suggest that nearly 90 percent of it will be absorbed by the end of 2026, proving the Nashville office market’s resilience. As we approach the end of the first quarter, Nashville’s office market is off to a good start, despite some uncooperative icy weather. Although local tenants continue to lead occupancy growth, sizable multi-market requirements have continued to increase, pushing …

March 16, 2026

Georgia Market Reports Mixed-Use Restaurant Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

How Mixed-Use Is Evolving in North Georgia

by John Nelson March 13, 2026

Mixed-use development across the Southeast continues to change and evolve. What was once as straightforward as building residential apartments located above a street-level retail component has become something far more sophisticated and intentional. Today’s mixed-use communities offer integrated, experience-driven environments where all elements of living, working, shopping, dining and recreation are thoughtfully curated, with connectivity as a primary focus. The North Georgia region, located approximately 40 miles north of Atlanta, is where residential demand is rising, incomes are growing and consumer preferences are changing. As these trends converge, developers seek the opportunity to create true neighborhood hubs in the area. The Crossing at Coal Mountain, located in Forsyth County, is a new 140-acre mixed-use destination by Atlantic Residential that reflects how development strategies are evolving in response to these market shifts. The project will feature walkable streets, activated green spaces, local dining, daily lifestyle services and a carefully programmed retail plaza alongside luxury homes being developed in partnership with national homebuilder Toll Brothers. Each of the project’s planned elements is designed to support a true live-work-play environment. Phase I of the project’s retail district is on track to open this year, positioning the development to contribute to the region’s broader …

March 13, 2026

Arkansas Development Hospitality Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports

By Flipping the Script on Value Engineering, AI ‘Saves’ Arkansas Hotel Project

by John Nelson March 11, 2026

How did The Fay hotel in Fayetteville, Ark., save $500,000 mid-construction? How are other apartment, office and mixed-use developments doing the same, across the construction cycle? Developers are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence (AI) to flip the script on the challenge of value engineering that often dumbs-down original design plans. Value engineering is almost a constant in the business: A project is designed and priced during the feasibility and entitlement stage but three, four or five years later when construction starts, prices have jumped while the budget is the same. And prices go up for many reasons, such as materials costs, labor costs or regulatory issues — even for import tariffs, as we’ve seen the past year. But maybe we’re blaming the wrong culprit in giving “value engineering” a negative connotation.Now it’s time for the procurement process to take its turn in preserving value and design. Saving despite tariffsProactive procurement led to a half-million-dollar savings for real estate investor/developer Dwellist at its Fayetteville project. Dwellist is transforming a decades-old motel near the University of Arkansas into The Fay, its first Motelier-branded property, a full adaptive-reuse. Recently, materials ordering was running into cost-overruns that risked putting the overall project over budget. …

March 11, 2026

Industrial Market Reports Southeast Southeast Market Reports Tennessee

Nashville’s Industrial Market: A Resilient Powerhouse in 2026

by John Nelson March 9, 2026

As Nashville closes out 2025, the industrial market has solidified its reputation as a resilient powerhouse in the Southeast. With record investment volumes exceeding $2.2 billion and vacancy rates remaining well below national averages, the Nashville MSA continues to attract distributors, manufacturers, and data center-related businesses. This robust performance reflects a recalibration from pandemic-era highs while maintaining durable demand, setting the stage for balanced growth in 2026. Trends shaping the market Several macroeconomic trends are influencing Nashville’s industrial landscape. Nearshoring/onshoring and supply chain diversification have heightened the city’s appeal as a logistical hub. It is important to note that Nashville is strategically located within a day’s drive of over half the U.S. population. Locally, job growth has outpaced the national average, with Oxford Economics reporting a 1.1 percent increase in 2025, bolstered by gains in manufacturing, logistics and retail. Notably, Moody’s Analytics highlights transportation equipment manufacturing as a key driver, as automakers increase domestic production to mitigate tariffs. Further enhancing Nashville’s logistical capabilities, the planned expansion of air freight capacity at Nashville International Airport in 2027 is poised to solidify the region’s role in cargo throughput, supported by a robust highway network and a growing labor force. Despite broader economic …

March 9, 2026

Market Reports North Carolina Restaurant Retail Southeast Southeast Market Reports

Scarcity Shapes Strategy: How Tight Vacancy Is Redefining Retail in Raleigh

by John Nelson March 2, 2026

If there is one defining characteristic of the Raleigh-Durham retail market today, it is scarcity. Exceptionally low vacancy — especially in high-quality, well-located centers — has become the norm rather than the exception, fundamentally reshaping leasing dynamics, rent growth and development strategy across the region. As of third-quarter 2025, overall retail vacancy in Raleigh-Durham stood at approximately 2.4 percent, marking four consecutive years below the 3 percent threshold. Even more telling, spaces under 10,000 square feet posted vacancy closer to 1.8 percent, underscoring just how competitive conditions have become for local and regional tenants. This imbalance between demand and supply has placed landlords in a position of sustained leverage, particularly in grocery-anchored centers, strong neighborhood and lifestyle shopping centers or mixed-use environments. Low vacancy matters because it drives outcomes. Lease-ups are happening faster, concessions are increasingly rare in top trade areas and rents continue to trend upward. For tenants, especially those seeking smaller footprints, waiting to engage often means missing opportunities altogether. For owners, the market rewards proactive asset management and disciplined tenant selection. A clear example of this dynamic is Olde Raleigh Village, a grocery-anchored community shopping center that is currently 100 percent leased. With no vacancy to contend …

March 2, 2026

Market Reports North Carolina Office Southeast Southeast 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

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

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

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