What's Especially Unique About Southeast CRE

ATLANTA—All property types in the Southeast have strong commercial real estate fundamentals. Southeast commercial real estate owners and occupiers are benefitting from several factors, including growth, economic stability, affordability, and quality of life.

With the world's busiest airport, the top two fastest growing ports in North America in Charleston and Savannah, high levels of construction and strong yields on investment, the Southeast is garnering more attention than previous years, according to CBRE. As a region, the firm said the Southeast shows indicators of recovery from the economic recession with steady growth.

"The growth has benefitted the larger Southeastern markets such as Atlanta, Nashville and Charlotte," the report reads. These markets "have succeeded in attracting technology, advertising, media and information companies and thus creating small tech markets, and the smaller Southeastern cities such as Greenville, Charleston and Savannah have seen tremendous strides in industrial and port related activity."

According to CBRE, no other region in America can claim this unique confluence of market characteristics driving expansion. Because of the strongly diverse consumer base and local economic climates that are fairly evenly spread among different drivers, the Southeast enjoys a less volatile economy than other regions.

The region as a whole continues to outpace others nationally in terms of economic strength and growth trajectory, according to CBRE. For example, Atlanta, Nashville, and Charlotte have attracted a combined 300,000 new residents in the last five years, compared to New York City's 100,000 during the same time frame.

"Atlanta is in an enviable economic position as 2016 begins, one that will ultimately lead to stronger commercial real estate conditions and provide the foundation for new development activity," Dan Wagner, a regional research manager at CBRE, tells GlobeSt.com. "The region's lower overall costs, such as housing, real estate occupancy, wages and taxes, is resulting in robust in-migration at both the corporate and individual levels."

CBRE reports the health of the Southeastern economy has led to record high asking rents and low vacancies and has justified the need for speculative and build-to-suit development among all property types. Demographics in the region have justified a multifamily boom, now placing Atlanta as the nation's best option for investors in terms of return on investment of multifamily product.