Does Houston Have its Groove Back?

Jackson Walker recently leased 77,015 square feet at 5 Houston Center.

HOUSTON—Investors will concentrate on value-add and seek out acquisitions in areas of lower supply competition in 2018, according to Doug Ressler of Yardi Matrix. Asian investment in trophy assets registered a drop in terms of sales volume, going from $5.6 billion in 2016 to $4.8 billion in 2017, but market share-wise, registered a two-point increase, reaching 17% of total transaction volume last year.

Two of the top acquisitions of 2017 were in the Bayou City, with Brookfield Properties spending $875 million on the 4.2 million-square-foot mixed-use Houston Center, according to Yardi. These buildings include LyondellBasell Tower at 46 stories and 1.1 million square feet, 2 Houston Center at 40 stories and 1 million square feet, Fulbright Tower at 51 stories and 1.2 million square feet, 4 Houston Center at 16 stories and 674,000 square feet, and The Shops at Houston Center at three stories and 196,000 square feet, GlobeSt.com learns. The other Houston property, the Greenway Plaza portfolio formerly owned by Parkway Properties, sold for $512 million in the first half of 2017.