Denver again named a top real estate market to watch

Denver again named a top real estate market to watch

Denver ranked in the top 10 of national cities to watch in the recently released Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2010 Report by PricewaterhouseCoopers and the Urban Land Institute. (Download full report.)

Nationally, 2010 is expected to be a challenging year for the commercial real estate industry. However, survey participants believe that the markets performing well before the crash should perform better coming out of it and the laggard markets will continue to suffer. The report noted cities across the country that investors should watch in 2010, including Denver. This marks the third year in a row the report has highlighted Denver among top tier cities.

"Denver marshals its attractive Rocky Mountain lifestyle attributes and works hard to fortify its downtown core into a multifaceted, 24-hour commercial center," officials said in a press release. "While avoiding financial industry implosions, the local economy gets a boost from green initiatives—the city is a national hub for companies in alternative energy, wind-farm manufacturing, and natural gas."

According to the report, real estate investors consider the following aspects:

• Global gateway markets on the East and West coasts—featuring international airports, ports, and major commercial centers.
• Cities and urbanizing infill suburbs with 24-hour attributes—upscale, pedestrian-friendly neighborhoods; con¬venient office, retail, entertainment, and recreation districts; mass transit alternatives to driving; good schools (public and/or private); and relatively safe streets.
• Brainpower centers—places that offer a dynamic combi¬nation of colleges and universities, high-paying industries—high tech, biotech, finance, and health care (medical centers, drug companies)—and government offices.
• Barrier-to-entry markets where geographic constraints—rivers, lakes, oceans, and mountains—limit development and help control overbuilding.
• Often, the most coveted markets have most, if not all, of these elements. In this year’s report, investors also showed a preference for some growth-oriented markets that did not get overheated or overpriced in recent years.
• Investors shy away from:
  • Midwest manufacturing centers—automaker travail deflates interest to new lows;
  • Secondary and tertiary cities—anywhere you can’t fly direct to from the global pathway centers;
  • Hot-growth bubble-burst markets, which collapsed under plunging housing prices; and
  • Fringe areas—the exurbs and places with long car com¬mutes or where getting a quart of milk means taking a 15- minute drive.

Now in its 31st year, the Emerging Trends report is the oldest, most highly regarded annual industry outlook for the real estate and land use industry and includes interviews and survey responses from more than 900 leading real estate experts