Further Signs Of Downtown Demand

The Demand for living in downtown Charlotte has never been higher than it is now.  An article in the MultiHousingNews points to Charlotte's urban core as the key growth area, read the full article here.

"Of course, the hottest submarkets continue to be downtown, inside the 277 loop. “Much of the critical mass of Charlotte’s employment is driven by banking and energy,” notes Llewellyn. “The employment centers never really decentralized from downtown, so the central business district is going to be the number-one submarket.”

This is substantiating what I have been seeing over the past 18 months.  In my business, I find that I am getting more calls for rentals than in the past.  The reasons are largely the same; not sure of the economy; don't have a down payment; wish to see what living downtown is like; etc.

The developer market is turning towards producing more rental units to try to stay up with the demand, again the article cites absorbsion rates as being out of skew.  David Furman is reportedly ready to break ground for an apartment development along the LYNX Blue Line in the South End.

The other trend I see is that rents are rising as interest rates and condo prices are falling, in some cases to be more attractive than rentals. This cycle of condos/rentals/condos/rentals continues to go on.  As things stabilize, indications are that a return to purchasing will drive up prices in a condo market that is adding little to the inventory mix.  As this happens, property values in the downtown market will rise again.

The law of Supply and Demand lives on!