Despite rising interest rates, commercial real estate has seen success in 2024. Although the forecast varies among specific asset classes, the industry outlook remains positive heading into the end of the year. Is it time that you seriously consider investing in commercial real estate? Why or why not?
Rental rates are increasing quickly across the United States, and as such, property values are following suit, but Is it still a good time to buy? The answer is absolutely, as long as you’re doing your research. Not all markets are performing to the same level, so it’s incredibly important that you partner with professionals, like our investment sales team. The Vista Holdings team provides specialized, need-driven servicing processes and extensive market knowledge, allowing you to make the best decisions possible, setting you up for success in both the short and long term.
Overall, one of the absolute best reasons to invest in commercial real estate over residential is the earning potential. Commercial properties typically have an annual return off the purchase price between 6% and 12%, depending on the area, current state of the economy, and other external factors. That’s a much higher range than ordinarily exists for single-family home properties (1% to 4% at best).
What you should be looking for in this kind of market is “value-add opportunities.” A value-add property describes a property that has cash flow in place, but it’s possible to increase that cash flow over time by making improvements to the property. These improvements can include physical improvements to the property that would demand higher rental rates, increasing efforts to fill vacant space(s), making changes to the property management team to increase overall customer satisfaction, or even lowering operating expenses to increase the property’s overall profitability.
When it comes to purchasing a residential property, the pricing is determined by the seller and comparable properties, leaving a significant amount of grey area. That’s not the case with commercial properties. It’s often much easier to evaluate the prices of commercial property, because you can request the current owner’s income statement and determine what the price should be based on that. If the seller is using a knowledgeable broker, the asking price should be set at a price where an investor can earn the area’s prevailing cap rate for the commercial property type they are looking at. By comparison, residential properties are often subject to more emotional pricing.
Should you consider investing in commercial real estate in 2025 and beyond? As long as you partner up with professionals like the Vista Holdings team and are doing your research, the answer is a resounding yes! If you’d like to get started investing in commercial real estate, reach out to us! We’d love to help you get started.