Industry leaders say recovery remains uneven as higher interest rates, refinancing challenges and AI reshape the market. Commercial real estate fundamentals continue to improve heading into the second half of the year, but the recovery remains highly uneven. Panelists participating in Commercial Property Executive‘s Midyear Outlook webinar repeatedly described a bifurcated market, where top-performing assets continue to attract demand while others struggle with
What will happen with interest rates in the second half? Which asset classes will outperform? How should you adjust your strategy? Our midyear outlook examines what’s shifting and what those changes will mean for deals, capital and risk as we head into the second half of the year. Expect to gain new insights to help you better prepare your business for the opportunities and challenges ahead. You’ll also have an opportunity to ask the questions that matter most to you. Hear predictions
U.S. multifamily growth is likely to remain modest for the remainder of the year, according to a new market analysis from Yardi Matrix. While demand is positive, it’s not strong enough to make more than a dent in the nearly 1.3 million units in lease-up around the nation. “Nationally, multifamily advertised rents increased modestly in the first half of the year, but if the post-pandemic pattern is a guide, full-year growth is likely to be limited,” noted the analysis. “Demand is positive, but with a ceiling
K. Hovnanian Homes plans to break ground by the end of the year on a 234-home single family development in the bustling Desert Ridge area, where it bought roughly 53 acres of state land last fall. The homebuilder has been working its way through city channels over the past several months after filing a conceptual site plan with the city of Phoenix in January, according to public documents. The New Jersey homebuilder won a competitive state land auction on Sept. 23, when
The U.S. apartment market is beginning to stabilize as supply pressures ease, with improving conditions emerging in a growing number of markets. A new update to CoStar’s multifamily momentum index shows where improvements are occurring most quickly, highlighting markets where apartment vacancy is falling, renter demand is catching up, and supply pressures are beginning to recede. To better understand where market momentum is building, CoStar’s analytics team
The Metropolitan, the long-awaited redevelopment of Metrocenter Mall, will begin vertical construction in early 2027, but the Colorado-based homebuilder that was planned to lead the effort has withdrawn from the project. Oakwood Homes had planned to build the residential portion of the project, including both rental and for-sale townhomes. However, the company was not going to be sufficiently staffed in Phoenix to move as quickly as the redevelopment process will require, Steve
Phoenix’s construction market continued to gain momentum throughout Q2 2026, driven by sharpening industrial fundamentals, accelerating tenant improvement activity and a tightening supply picture across retail and office, even as tariff-driven cost pressures on metals and long-lead electrical equipment require early procurement planning, according to LGE Design Build’s newly released Q2 2026 Construction Delivery Outlook Report. “Industrial demand in Phoenix is as strong
Employment in the Arizona Construction sector dramatically led those with gains in May, posting an increase of 2,700 positions, according to the latest report published by the Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity. The jump in employment cut the sector’s year-over-year losses down to 900. The state’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate, however, nudged up to 4.8% after sitting at 4.7% for March and April. The national unemployment rate held the 4.3% rate seen in March and
San Tan Valley has always been a place defined by possibility. Long before it became Arizona’s newest municipality, the community was a patchwork of farmland, homesteads and ranchettes stretching across western Pinal County. Master-planned neighborhoods, cul-de-sacs and families arrived in waves during the housing boom of the late 1990s and early 2000s. Yet despite its rapid growth, San Tan Valley remained something of an outlier — large, vibrant and
The U.S. apartment market is beginning to stabilize as supply pressures ease, with improving conditions emerging in a growing number of markets. A new update to CoStar’s multifamily momentum index shows where improvements are occurring most quickly, highlighting markets where apartment vacancy is falling, renter demand is catching up, and supply pressures are beginning to recede. To better understand where market momentum is building, CoStar’s analytics
Paladin Envirotech announced a major expansion of its U.S. operations, advancing new investment to scale domestic processing capacity and strengthen critical materials recovery infrastructure. As part of this expansion, Paladin has newly acquired a shredding and mechanical processing facility in Phoenix, which adds approximately 93,000 square feet of processing capacity and will serve Arizona, Nevada, Southern California, and New Mexico, anchoring Paladin’s mechanical processing
A new industrial corridor lined with big-box warehouses is starting to take shape in Buckeye. South of Interstate 10 and along State Route 85, several new industrial developments targeting logistics and distribution users are currently underway. That includes retailer Burlington’s new two million-square-foot regional distribution center off SR 85 and Broadway Road, along with an 83-acre business park from Phoenix-based ViaWest. The latest project on tap is Summit Logistics
Office asking rents have risen little since early 2020, while real, effective rents have fallen considerably. But going forward, a lack of new supply is giving support to ever stronger rent growth at competitive properties. The shift comes as tenants are increasingly competing for limited desirable space while continuing to shun many high-vacancy buildings. Nationally, the average office asking rent is only about 7% higher than it was at the start of 2020 and only in a handful of markets, including
Average rates for the 30-year fixed-rate mortgage came down last week to 6.47%, signaling a rise in buyer demand, according to Freddie Mac. “Incoming data continues to reflect a resilient consumer, with retail sales improving and pending home sales strengthening, suggesting purchase demand is continuing to modestly improve,” says Sam Khater, chief economist at Freddie Mac. (You can see mortgage rates in your area here, from our ad partner Bankrate.) But which mortgage
The Arizona Office of Economic Opportunity (OEO) and the Governor’s Workforce Arizona Council hosted the “2026 Arizona Workforce Summit: Connecting Today’s Skills to Tomorrow’s Opportunities” on June 9-10, a free, two-day event that brought together hundreds of industry leaders, educators and industry partners to address Arizona’s most pressing workforce challenges. It also honored local industry workforce partners and High-Impact Training programs at the Summit’s inaugural Champions for the Workforce
Phoenix is well-situated in the top half of America’s 50 best cities, a new report shows. It’s one of several metros whose reputation goes well beyond its performance — a key element in competitiveness. Resonance Consultancy’s 2026 America’s Best Cities report ranked Phoenix at No. 19 in the nation, out of 100 cities ranked. Phoenix has come in as high as No. 9, which it did in Resonance’s 2021 report. Two other Arizona cities made this year’s list. Tucson ranked at No. 57, while Flagstaff ranked
Global data center demand from artificial intelligence (AI) uses is outpacing available space capacity, pushing vacancy rates toward historic lows despite a wave of new supply, according to CBRE’s latest Global Data Center Trends report. Global supply reached 16 gigawatts (GW) in Q1 2026 across the 16 largest data center markets, up 25% year-over-year. However, even with supply growth in all major regions, average vacancy fell to 6.7% from 8.3% a year earlier, indicating tightening market
With the BEX 2026 Mid-Year Update event coming up in a couple of weeks, everyone at the company is down the data-crunching rabbit hole, focused on prepping and polishing our market and sector information for presentation. Given the general vibe around the office, and the general slowdown in board/commission/council activities and new project submissions this time of year, I decided to take a look at the Industrial sector and see if anything in particular grabbed my attention for this issue’s front page. It did
Most markets posted year-over-year office visit gains, after adjusting for the number of working days. Image courtesy of Placer.ai Office attendance in May rose 3.7 percentage points year-over-year after adjusting for the number of working days, according to a Placer.ai report, making May 2026 the strongest May for RTO since the pandemic. While the raw data suggests that visits to the office dropped in May 2026 by 1.2 percentage points year-over-year, coming in at 38.6 percent below May 2019 levels, it’s actually a function of
For years, the Phoenix office market has been defined by questions surrounding remote work, rising vacancies and shifting tenant demands. But new data suggests the narrative is beginning to change. According to CommercialCafe’s May 2026 Office Market Report, Phoenix is quietly emerging as one of the healthiest office markets in the western United States, with declining vacancy, rising lease rates, strong investment activity and a measured development pipeline that positions the metro well for continued recovery. Among the largest office
Developers are gearing up to tear down another structure near the former Metrocenter Mall as the area undergoes a significant redevelopment. The city of Phoenix on June 11 issued a permit for the full demolition of a 118,970-square-foot office building located at 9630 N. 25th Ave. The 6.43-acre property off Interstate 17 includes one building completed in 1993, according to real estate database Vizzda. It went into bankruptcy before Utah-based Okoa Capital acquired it in April 2024. The current property owner’s plans are unclear
Banner Real Estate Group (as Portland Street Phoenix Apartments LLC) is planning a 21-story, 320-unit multifamily tower with 5.5KSF of retail on 1.6 acres at 1101 N. 1st St. in Phoenix. The 493KSF building in the Roosevelt Row area will feature four parking levels, with amenity areas on floors one, five and 21. Planned amenities include a pool deck, terraces, a dog run and wash, a sports court, a community area, workspaces and a bicycle room. The City of Phoenix issued a preliminary approval during a May site plan
Construction starts across the single-family and multifamily sectors. Chart and data courtesy of the Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies “The state of the nation’s housing is, in a word, subdued,” said Harvard Joint Center for Housing Studies’ Senior Research Associate Dan McHugh during a webinar on Wednesday. The discussion accompanied the release of the JCHS State of the Nation’s Housing 2026 report. “Construction is down, home sales are flat and costs and cost burdens are up against that backdrop
The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate flat Wednesday at its first meeting under Chairman Kevin Warsh in a widely expected decision that comes amid rising prices and the U.S. and Israel’s war with Iran. The unanimous vote to keep the benchmark rate at 3.5% to 3.75% signals that the central bank continues to focus on fighting inflation, a battle that has tilted further against it after the war in Iran sent energy costs soaring. The central bank rewrote the statement it publishes along with each vote to be shorter and to strip out