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South Carolina tops NAR index for future commercial real estate demand
South Carolina leads a new NAR index ranking future commercial real estate demand across 300 metro markets. St. George, Utah, is the top city.
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South Carolina ranks first among U.S. states for future potential demand in commercial real estate, according to a new index from the National Association of Realtors.
The index covers more than 300 metropolitan markets, with separate scores for office, industrial, retail and multifamily sectors. It uses government data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics and the Census Bureau on population, migration, and employment growth to rank regions.
For the office sector, the index tracks growth in professional and business services jobs. Industrial demand is measured by manufacturing, transportation and warehousing employment. Retail looks at trade plus leisure and hospitality hiring. Multifamily incorporates population growth and net migration, both domestic and international. All four are combined into a single number.
"It doesn't say, 'OK, go there and just buy property,' but it says ... where the data shows that the momentum is building, the demand is building," said Nadia Evangelou, principal economist and director of real estate research at NAR.
The index also compares current markets to 2022, the peak of the pandemic migration boom. Raleigh, North Carolina, is the only major U.S. market that scores higher today than it did then. Formerly hot markets like Austin, Miami, and Naples, Florida, have all declined markedly since 2022.