Chattanooga Ranked as Top 10 Commercial Real Estate Market

When most people hear “real estate,” they automatically picture a home with a “for sale” sign in the yard. But there’s another equally important component to the overall market – commercial real estate. In fact, in Greater Chattanooga, we have 430 REALTORS® who subscribe to our commercial multiple listing service, with nearly 80 of those 430 REALTORS®, specializing in commercial real estate only.

Nationally, the commercial real estate market has taken a big hit from the pandemic. After all, it isn’t easy to have office or market space if everyone is working remotely. It’s a side of real estate that definitely has had its challenges of late.

But that’s turning around. At the National Association of REALTORS’® (NAR) inaugural C5 Commercial Real Estate Summit, it was reported that since the second quarter of 2020, vacancy rates have fallen for apartments and multifamily units, industrial, and retail properties. The conference brought together commercial investors and industry leaders, REALTOR® associations, economic development corporations, and government officials.

During the conference, NAR released their Top 10 Commercial Office Markets for 2021 Report, and in it they named Chattanooga. For the report, NAR analyzed 390 commercial real estate markets to identify those with the most robust recoveries, including positive net absorption and strengthening rents across the multifamily, industrial, and retail sectors.

“Even as the economy makes a steady recovery, the one sector still lagging behind has been the office market,” says Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist. “Work-from-home flexibility looks to be the defining shift in the new post-pandemic economy. Despite the overall challenges, however, some local markets are bucking the trend with more office occupancy and rising rents. A combination of strong in-migration and relatively lower cost of doing business is driving these growth markets.”

So it looks like commercial real estate is on the upswing, and our area is poised to recover and lead better than most. There’s no one better to help you than a Realtor who specializes in commercial real estate. Realtors have the tools and information to make sure that you get the most for your investment, whether it’s for your business or for your home. That’s Who We R.