Texas Market Reports

Three Trends That Are Influencing Commercial Real Estate Design in Austin

by Taylor Williams August 10, 2021

By Travis Albrecht, design director, AIA, Gensler Austin is bursting at the seams — just ask anyone who is currently trying to buy a home here. According to the latest U.S. Census Bureau figures, the city’s population has increased by 22 percent since 2010. The city will continue to grow and evolve, but people are attracted to its longstanding welcoming and laid-back culture. How does that translate into design and urban planning for this expanding, vibrant metropolis? Here are the major trends impacting design across commercial real estate in Austin that we have seen in our work as architects and designers, as well as insights gleaned from clients. Experiential Office Buildings As we adapt to a hybrid lifestyle where the workforce is split between the office and home, the role of the workplace and the office building will be to strengthen relationships, teach others and build community, culture and purpose. People want to work in dynamic, activated environments, which is why today’s successful office buildings and workplaces are now included within mixed-use developments, rather than as standalone campuses or office parks. Ground floors must be activated with retail space, service amenities, artwork, community or public gathering areas, even when workers …

August 10, 2021

Acquisitions Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

How Multifamily Investors Can Find Success in the Competitive Dallas-Fort Worth Market

by Taylor Williams July 30, 2021

By Ryan Mueller and Mitch Faccio, vice presidents of acquisitions, MLG Capital There’s no end in sight for the rising competition among multifamily investors in the desirable Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) market. These days, it’s common for a fully marketed multifamily property in the DFW metroplex to receive upwards of 50 offers during the first round of the sale process alone. This sheer competitiveness in acquisitions has forced sellers to pursue several rounds of bidding and buyers to differentiate themselves through pricing and terms. In addition, the level of competition has made it difficult for new buyers to participate in the market at all. The metroplex has been, and continues to be, the top transactional market in the country for multifamily. In the last 12 months, sales volume across Texas has exceeded $19.2 billion, with DFW accounting for $9.6 billion, or approximately 50 percent of the Lone Star State’s total sales volume. DFW has outpaced both Atlanta and New York City by more than $1 billion in sales volume in the last year, with those markets seeing $8.6 and $8.4 billion in multifamily sales, respectively. At the same time, we are seeing capitalization rates compress across the metroplex. In the last …

July 30, 2021

Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Return of Urban Renters Fuels Multifamily Demand in Houston

by Taylor Williams July 27, 2021

By Chris Curry and Todd Marix, senior managing directors of investment sales, Berkadia Things are looking up in Houston, and that rings especially true for the city’s growing multifamily sector. In-migration, a rebounding labor market and a high concentration of Fortune 500 firms and talent have made the Bayou City an attractive place for investors and residents alike. Recently, a slowdown in deliveries of new apartments has coupled with strong demand to bring rent levels to historical highs and elevate absorption across all asset classes. Part of this trend can be attributed to the continuing return of urban renters — those who left for suburban submarkets but are making a comeback into dense city centers. Houston has earned a reputation for being a compelling market in the Sun Belt region. Aside from basic fundamentals that have buttressed its apartment market, the city’s low cost of living and outward expansion have historically offered developers and investors plenty of room to operate while increasing returns in the process. Now, with demand easily surpassing supply, occupancy rates are over 90 percent for the first time in two years, which is truly remarkable considering how much more supply exists today. Even more resounding is …

July 27, 2021

Affordable Housing Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Texas Affordable Housing Developers Find Creative Ways to Secure Gap Financing

by Taylor Williams July 23, 2021

By Taylor Williams In an era in which land and construction costs are perpetually on the rise, developers of affordable housing must be able to navigate a complex web of federal, state and local programs in order to secure gap financing — the capital that covers the delta between total development costs and those covered by tax credit equity, municipal bonds or other types of subsidies. Understanding and effectively utilizing the various initiatives and incentives — density bonuses, private activity bonds, tax increment reinvestment zones, energy efficiency compliance — is no easy task. Time and manpower aside, this process is further complicated by the fact that state and municipalities have their own laws and regulations when it comes to these programs. But successfully navigating them is key to eliminating development costs not covered by tax credits — the critical piece of financing that lies at the heart of virtually every affordable housing project in Texas. For without these subsidies, the economics of paying market-rate land prices and record-high construction costs to develop housing in which rent levels are capped simply doesn’t work. “As developers that want to build high-quality affordable housing that’s basically indistinguishable from market-rate product, what we need …

July 23, 2021

Industrial Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Growing Pool of Investors Targets Multifamily, Industrial Deals in Fort Worth

by Taylor Williams July 20, 2021

By Bobby Weinberg, senior vice president of debt and equity, NorthMarq Employment growth is providing a powerful tailwind for the Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) commercial real estate market. And while Dallas may be the headline name that is attracting employers and investment capital to the metroplex, Fort Worth is commanding attention as a formidable market in its own right. DFW embodies a classic story of a high tide raising all boats. The metro has been one a national leader in terms of employment growth for several years, and the region is expected to add another 150,000 jobs this year. Employers that are looking to tap into that workforce are finding that Fort Worth checks all the right boxes. It has an educated labor pool with colleges and universities that include Texas Christian University and the nearby University of Texas-Arlington, among others. Furthermore, the city has a business-friendly government. An important third leg to that stool involves the affordable cost of living for workers. Fort Worth offers a multitude of workforce housing options — both in its single-family residential and its growing multifamily sector — that provide lifestyle choices for workers that employers like. Investors are discovering that there is not a …

July 20, 2021

Market Reports Office Texas Texas Market Reports

Demand for Class A Office Space, Flexible Work Routines Juxtaposed in Fort Worth

by Taylor Williams July 13, 2021

By Chris Doggett, executive vice president, Stream Realty Partners The allure of the Dallas-Forth Worth (DFW) market continues to make it one of the top corporate destinations in the country. This past year, DFW ranked number one in the nation in raw population growth. Specifically, an average of 328 people per day were added to the DFW fold, which equates to approximately 119,748 more residents this past year. This is truly an incredible stat and reflects the fact that the consistent, historically growth of DFW shows no signs of changing course. The cost of living, tax benefits and incredibly convenient location — directly in the middle of the Central Time Zone allowing for a three-hour flight time to anywhere in the continental United States — are second to none. The vast majority of new, Class A office transactions, including relocations from other states, have landed in new office developments in Irving, Uptown Dallas, the greater Legacy/Frisco area, Allen and Cypress Waters along the LBJ Freeway. This begs the question — why is the Fort Worth area not front and center for these deals? While many companies in Fort Worth have already returned to their offices, the thinking and processes behind …

July 13, 2021

Healthcare Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

Build Today, Sell Tomorrow: Three Ways Healthcare Developers in Texas Can Maximize Marketability

by Taylor Williams July 9, 2021

By Ben Reinberg, CEO, Alliance Consolidated Group of Cos. Healthcare real estate has proven to be one of the most resilient asset classes, able to bend but not break in the midst of global economic upheaval. Investors have become keenly aware of this fact, perhaps even more so during the latest downturn brought on by COVID-19. According to the 2021 U.S. Medical Office Trends report by CBRE, year-over-year investment volume for medical office properties fell 12.7 percent between the fourth quarters of 2019 and 2020. However, that’s far better than the 27.6 percent, 40.2 percent and 42.8 percent declines in investment sales volume that were respectively felt by the multifamily, office and retail sectors. Medical office buildings (MOBs) even beat out the white-hot industrial sector, which saw a 15.9 percent fall in annual investment volume last year. For developers eager to satiate this investor appetite for medical real estate, what is it that experienced buyers and newcomers to the space actually want in a healthcare asset? Ultimately it comes down to three things: location, size and use of space. Go Where the People Go “If you build it, they will come” may have worked for Kevin Costner’s cornfield baseball diamond, …

July 9, 2021

Market Reports Retail Texas Texas Market Reports

Low Retail Inventory Sustains Sales Prices in Dallas, Austin

by Taylor Williams June 25, 2021

By Taylor Williams The combination of a flight by investors to highly targeted segments of the physical retail market and a lack of new development in 2020 is keeping prices high for select properties in some of Texas’ biggest markets. Retail investment sales brokers in Dallas and Austin say that for specific subtypes of well-located properties — such as single-tenant, net-leased (STNL) assets and multi-tenant strip centers with essential businesses — there simply aren’t enough of these deals being brought market to go around. These supply constraints ensure that pricing continues to rise and cap rates continue to compress for these in-demand assets. According to data provided by CoStar Group and Real Capital Analytics (RCA), Dallas-Fort Worth (DFW) was a top 10 market in 2020 in terms of average retail sales price growth. Although total transaction volume was, unsurprisingly, down for the year, the metroplex saw an average price of $396 per square foot for single-tenant retail assets, a year-over-year increase of 5 percent. The average sales price for multi-tenant retail properties rose 6 percent to $329 per square foot over the course of the year. The data from CoStar and RCA for Austin also illustrates more muted sales price …

June 25, 2021

Market Reports Multifamily Texas Texas Market Reports

Investors Take Notice as RGV Multifamily Market Emerges from Pandemic Lull

by Taylor Williams June 18, 2021

By Brad Frisby, associate, NAI Rio Grande Valley As the national economy and society as a whole move toward recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, multifamily investors of all varieties, eager to deploy capital into the space, are increasingly looking at markets in the Rio Grande Valley (RGV). While the region’s multifamily investment market has unquestionably experienced its share of decreased activity over the past 15 months, deal volume and velocity have really picked back up through the first two quarters of 2021. Many investors that are targeting the RGV are banking on its solid fundamentals holding through the recovery and are eyeing deals with five- to 10-year holding strategies in mind. Although the RGV remains something of a seller’s market — many multifamily deals are trading at sub-6-percent cap rates — buyers are willing to pony up to be in this high-growth market. This holds especially true when one considers the RGV as an alternative to Dallas, Houston or Austin. But it’s precisely from those markets that we continue to see an influx of capital looking for multifamily deals. Prior to the pandemic, the annual combination of limited new deliveries and steady job growth in resilient industries like healthcare, education …

June 18, 2021

Industrial Market Reports Texas Texas Market Reports

RGV Industrial Market Maintains Steady Growth, Draws Investors’ Attention

by Taylor Williams June 11, 2021

By Daniel Galvan, SIOR, principal, Coldwell Banker Commercial RGV The Rio Grande Valley (RGV) industrial market continues to be very active despite a small, temporary slowdown due to the COVID-19 pandemic. With single-digit vacancy rates in both Hidalgo and Cameron counties, absorption is holding at a steady pace as available space has declined. To that point, the market saw approximately 250,000 square feet of net absorption in 2020. Rents have also continued to increase modestly with elevated demand, rising approximately 5 percent in the first quarter of 2021 relative to that period in 2020. However, that rate of growth should slow a bit in the coming months given that the market is still fraught with uncertainty due to COVID-19. Despite this uncertainty, we typically see upcoming vacancies continue to be filled prior to actually becoming vacant. While the agriculture industry continues to be a very large driver of absorption in the RGV’s industrial sector, there are more deals than ever for users that focus on consumer goods and fulfillment. There has also been a large amount of growth in demand from third-party logistics (3PL) companies and manufacturers. These users ultimately accounted for about 200,000 square feet of positive absorption in …

June 11, 2021

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