By Darren Powderly, CCIM, President
The US commercial real estate market will experience modest recovery in 2013 according to the annual Emerging Trends in Real Estate report from PwC US and the Urban Land Institute. Gains in leasing, rents and prices will be felt from coast to coast and throughout all property sectors. Investors are expected to allocate significant assets to the CRE asset class as they chase higher yields and stable risk-adjusted returns. Housing is also anticipated to continue it’s rebound from the 2011 market bottom.
While the major US coastal cities will continue to attract the most investment dollars, secondary cities will experience improved market conditions as well. So, what does this mean for Oregon? It means Oregonians will ride the wave of national trends while we attempt to attract jobs, educated echo-boomers and investment dollars to the state. Oregon is not widely known as an economic powerhouse state, yet here are some very compelling examples of reasons to be optimistic:
1) Portland boasts low vacancies in the office and industrial markets.
2) PwC/ULI ranks San Francisco #1, Seattle #7 and Portland #20 in their top performing US real estate markets.
3) The Oregon University system is expanding it’s four-year OSU-Cascades campus in Bend where the housing recovery is in full effect.
4) In-migration from California to Oregon is once again picking up steam as the housing and job markets recover in both states.
5) Oregon offers the best outdoor lifestyle combined with growing high-tech and manufacturing industries which will help fuel our “smart growth” in the years ahead.
Let’s hope that the looming fiscal cliff will be avoided so businesses can make investments with relative confidence.
Click here to read the 2013 Emerging Trends in Real Estate executive summary or download the full report.
Darren Powderly, CCIM is President and Partner at Compass Commercial Real Estate Services in Bend, Oregon. He recently discussed Bend’s commercial real estate market trends on KBND’s “Your Town” segment.