Jacksonville is a 'Market to Watch'

Jacksonville is a "small market to watch," according to a report on trends in urban real estate.

The report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate, is produced annually by the Urban Land Institute and PricewaterhouseCoopers and is based on surveys of 600 real estate experts across the country.

The surveyed experts indicated there will be a great deal of uncertainty in 2008 in the commercial real estate market, but the expected downturn in the market will be much less severe than the one in the residential market.

"Overall, a correction could be good for the industry, keeping supply and demand in balance, curbing overdevelopment and flushing out low-quality investors," said Tim Conlon, partner and U.S. real estate practice leader, PricewaterhouseCoopers. "By the same token, there are still investment opportunities and there is still a good deal of demand from investors.

The top-rated commercial real estate markets were New York; Seattle; Washington, D.C.; Los Angeles; San Francisco; Boston; San Diego; and Denver.

The report notes the top markets are 24-hour cities with a path to international markets, and all have a major international airport and/or shipping port, an educated workforce and a vital Downtown.

Jacksonville, along with Tampa, Orlando and 11 other cities, were among the small markets to watch, despite the fact that "investors typically back away from smaller markets during a correction."

Source: Jacksonville Business Journal