Commercial Real Estate Forecast
The commercial real estate industry is, as a whole, continuing on an upward trajectory. Ongoing focus on vaccinations as consumers turn toward travel and in-person interactions is aiding the industry’s recovery. However, some sectors are recovering more quickly than others. The industrial and multifamily sectors are burgeoning, while the hospitality and retail sectors’ fates remain foggy but optimistic.
The optimism is stemming from an overall lack of distressed sales. To the contrary, assets are coming on the market at top dollar with little room for negotiation. Investors, on the other hand, are in search of bargains. Despite these differences, the industry is recovering and transactions are picking up, most especially in middle market geographies.
A shift in mindset has triggered the focus on smaller cities. Office spaces are being reconfigured to be more flexible as the typical workforce settles into an adaptive office model. More employees are opting to work from home a percentage of the time, relocating to areas that are less expensive. In response, business owners are finding a need to evolve from 10% capacity to 100% capacity throughout a given week while minimizing excess costs.
Consequently, unique spaces and flex spaces focused on collaboration and wellness are seeing a spike in popularity. Investors are gradually showing increased interest in high risk opportunities in search of high returns, furthering the demand in the alternative sector such as data centers and storage warehouses.
Locally, developments are continuing to unfold as demand in the Asheville area increases. The Asheville Regional Airport is quickly adding new nonstop flights to major metropolitan cities, citing in a press release “an anticipation of increasing interest in travel to the Asheville area.” According to the Asheville Citizen-Times, “Pre-pandemic, the Asheville area was drawing in nearly 11 million visitors annually.” With a steady rhythm, those figures are on the rise, with visitors becoming homeowners and investing in the local economy.
Q2 2021 Commercial Activity Review:
- 9 Industrial Transactions for $26.3 million
- 13 Office Transactions for $8.3 million
- 27 Retail Transactions for $32.1 million
- 18 Multi-family Transactions for $56.1 million
- 43 Land Transactions for $32.8 million
Q2 2021 Lease Activity Review:
- 17 Industrial Lease Transactions, Vacancy Rate of 3.8%
- 38 Office Lease Transactions, Vacancy Rate of 3.1%
- 51 Retail Lease Transactions, Vacancy Rate of 2.9%
All data that we share is for the four county MSA (Buncombe, Henderson, Haywood, and Madison) and is provided by CoStar.
About the Featured Listing:
640 North Main Street in Hendersonville
MLS# 3746657 | 0.51 Acres | $1,950,000
Take advantage of a rare chance to own a prominent corner of Main Street with a building that is prime for redevelopment. This would be the perfect building to repurpose as a fine dining restaurant or small batch microbrewery. Included is a gas generator and a dedicated mini-split to cool the server room.
All real estate is local. In order to make confident real estate decisions, it is important for you to have timely and neighborhood-specific information. For more information about our commercial real estate market, ask your NAI Beverly-Hanks agent or click here.