D-FW still a hot market to buy

Area second in survey of investors for third year, trailing only Los Angeles

Dallas-Fort Worth is again near the top of a shopping list for commercial property investors — behind only Los Angeles in a new survey.

For the third year in a row, commercial real estate firm CBRE ranked D-FW second nationally in its survey of property investors. Houston also made the top 10.

Investors said industrial and warehouse buildings and apartments were their most targeted properties for 2019.

“We are seeing unprecedented investor interest for industrial and logistics properties in Dallas-Fort Worth coming not only from U.S. investors but also global capital from Asia, primarily Singapore, Europe and the Middle East,” Randy Baird, CBRE executive vice president of Industrial & Logistics, said in the report. “D-FW is capturing the interest of all forms of capital because we are at a central point in the U.S. supply chain, we have a pro-business environment with a low cost of doing business, and we have nation-leading population growth.

“Investors are attracted not only by the current market fundamentals, which are stronger than ever, but by the long-term view that D-FW and Texas as a whole will continue to outpace the country in population and job growth, translating to long-term asset appreciation.”

Only 1 in 10 of the investors CBRE polled said they planned to acquire office buildings this year. And only 9 percent said they were shopping for retail properties.

While 98 percent of the real estate industry execs CBRE surveyed said they planned to make property acquisitions this year, more investors indicated they would be more cautious in their buys.

“Pricing is at or near the previous peak for most asset types in prime locations, so investors are seeking yield in secondary markets and alternative asset types,” said Chris Ludeman, Global President of Capital Markets for CBRE.

CBRE surveyed investors in November and December for the annual report.

After Los Angeles and D-FW, the real estate markets that investors are most hot on are Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Seattle, Denver and Atlanta.

When asked to list their top concerns for the real estate market this year, investors most often mentioned a global economic shock, rising interest rates and a property price bubble.

CBRE’s annual investor poll is just the latest industry snapshot in which D-FW won high marks. Last fall, the Urban Land Institute and PriceWaterhouse Coopers identified D-FW as the top market for 2019 real estate investment and development activity.

This is an original article by real estate editor, Steve Brown. A link to the article can be found here.