“Commercial real estate is now a core investment” -Jake Reid
Jake Reid, Senior Director of Investment Sales for Franklin Street, recently spoke at the Bisnow Multifamily Annual Conference Southeast in Atlanta.
Appearing on the Finance & Investment Trends panel, he and others shared insights on the market, where its growing and its financial health.
Jake said he’s getting multiple calls a day from investors looking to get into the SunBelt markets (or what he also calls the SEC market for the Southeastern Conference in college football).
“With less than 3 percent unemployment in the Atlanta market,” for example, Jake said “the area fundamentals to push migration are here. We still have relatively affordable rents and people are looking to move here.” This is true across the South.
Markets that are up-and-coming are what panelists called “third tier” cities that are hot right now, like Chattanooga, Greensboro (N.C.), Huntsville, Greenville, Augusta, Macon, Columbus, both Gainesvilles (Georgia and Florida) and Jacksonville.
“Follow the jobs,” added Jake, especially the logistics industry and where they are builing distribution centers. That’s where you will find where people live and work and some of the growing markets for multifamily property, he said.
Another factor driving sales is that foreign investors are looking to buy in the South, because returns are so much higher here than in other markets, especially Europe. And real estate has become a “core” investment, no longer considered “alternative” as it was years ago.
Finally, Jake said, multifamily projects further into the suburbs will continue but he also believes all urban core properties will experience a comeback. “Generally populations will be moving back into cities,” he said. For more information about the multifamily industry, read Franklin Street’s third quarter 2021 reports here.
Read more about the Bisnow Southeast Multifamily Annual Conference
