Austin News

American commercial real estate services and investment firm CBRE Group Inc. recently ranked Austin ninth overall in a report identifying development markets favorable for commercial construction as the country recovers from the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

CBRE’s inaugural U.S. Development Opportunity Index report analyzes the top 50 U.S. markets by population, then ranks those markets on four different performance categories: construction costs, strength of existing supply, prior cycle performance and forecast property performance.

Austin is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation and in the most recent economic cycle, it ranked among the top five U.S. markets in demand for retail, office and multifamily.

“As the population of the greater Austin area is on pace to grow 25% or more in the next 10 years, construction in the area will need to keep up with the additional demand for commercial real estate,” Brian Jarrett, senior director with CBRE Project Management, said. “We expect construction pricing will remain highly competitive due to number and quality of construction firms in the area. There are fantastic general contractors that not only specialize in nearly every construction type, but also specialize in nearly every project size.”

Jarrett attributes Austin’s growth to factors including a business-friendly environment, affordable housing and land and a consistently strong job market and said that these attributes attract top companies to the region.

Austin's ninth overall spot on the inaugural list included category rankings of fifth for retail development opportunities, sixth for office, seventh for multifamily and 18th for industrial.

Retail development in Austin was scored according to total retail spending. The city had the highest increase in retail spending from 2010-2019 and is also forecast to have the second highest spending from 2020-2023. The office and multifamily construction score was from Austin’s strong employment numbers and growth of the labor market from 2010-2019. Austin’s industrial & logistics development score was from the city’s population growth and forecasted population growth.

Visitors can find the full report here.