Why Time May Be on the Burbs’ Side

Renamed Greenwood at Ashley River, the multifamily asset adds 280 class C-plus units to RADCO’s portfolio.

ATLANTA—Space occupants are finding wins in the non-primary markets. By pursuing deals in cities like Indianapolis and Nashville, Bob Smietana, HSA Commercial’s vice chairman and CEO, tells GlobeSt.com, “users have an opportunity to secure newly constructed space not only at a lower rate, but in many cases, in states where it’s more affordable to do business.”

According to the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers, many in the business feel that time is on the suburbs’ side. In the firms’ “2016 Emerging Trends in Real Estate Report,” analysts point out that the major argument is that “the deferral of marriage and family formation by Millennials, and the related preference for downtown living in denser, more active ‘mating markets,’ is just that—deferral. Eventually, the logic goes, generation Y will follow the baby boomers’ path and head to the suburbs in the child-rearing years. That may very well be, and numbers are on the side of that argument as well.