The commercial real estate market continued to show improvement in Q3 2015, with industrial sector square-footage absorption and rent “asking prices” growing at a healthy clip, according to the The CoStar Industrial Report, Third Quarter 2015.

Although demand for office space decreased in Q3, it was still one of the strongest quarters in the ongoing expansion of the commercial real estate market.

With this in mind, we took a look at some of the U.S.’s hottest commercial real estate markets as a reference point for tax consideration criteria. Part 1 of this blog highlights the top markets, and Part 2 dives into ways your company can manage both the risk and costs of property tax assessments.

Hottest Sites For Industrial Property Expansion

The top 10 commercial real estate markets are best reflected in the velocity of transactions and activity in the industrial and office markets.

The hottest markets for industrial property expansion include:

• The Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
• Dallas/Ft. Worth
• Houston
• Chicago
• Memphis
• Cincinnati
• Atlanta
• The Pennsylvania distribution corridor
• Central New Jersey

When evaluating your property tax risk in a top 10 industrial market, start by looking at factors such as tax rates and market value assessment percentage. In the greater LA area, these are high, but the region continues to be a top U.S. industrial market in terms of absorption and low vacancy rates. Taxes are also high in Chicago, Dallas and Atlanta.

Other hot industrial markets include:

• New Jersey
• Northern California (San Francisco peninsula and the Central Valley)
• Seattle

Hottest Sites For Corporate Offices   

The hottest markets for corporate office locations include:

• Seattle
• Northern California
• The Greater Los Angeles Metropolitan Area
• Denver
• Austin
• Dallas/Ft. Worth
• Chicago
• Atlanta
• New York

Other hot industrial markets include:

• Austin
• San Francisco
• Pittsburgh
• The Raleigh-Durham area
• South Florida
• Boston

In Part 2 of this post, we’ll take a closer look at managing and lowering corporate occupancy costs in these markets.

Mitigate the cost and risk of commercial real estate expansion by downloading our free whitepaper, 4 Tips For Managing Corporate Real Estate Occupancy Costs.