Key Takeaways
• Landlord-tenant rent challenges and lease negotiations continue with tenants requesting rent relief.
• There has been an uptick in leasing activity.
• Banks will be pulling in the reins on lending and backing only solid deals.
• Construction materials are becoming scarce and getting harder to get from Mexico and China. Prices are also starting to creep up.
• Seeing a gap between what sellers think their property is worth and what buyers are willing to pay.
• Although there is a slow down in retail, e-commerce is growing and correspondingly warehouse/industrial space needs
• Seeing a bit of a slowdown as people are waiting to see if another stimulus check is coming.
• Difficulty hearing back from landlords; they are so busy trying to keep current tenants that new deals drag out for months.
• Multi-family and industrial development is still strong, as is the demand for land.
• Land prices are not going up; most sellers aren’t willing to take a discount.
• Essential service businesses (Kroger, Publix, CVS, Walgreens, etc.) continue to move forward with projects: land development, landscape architecture, etc.
• Starting to see permanent closures in sit-down restaurants. Drive-thru restaurants continue to do a good business.
• Savannah market is strong; tourism is back; anything in historic district sells quickly.
• Low Country (Savannah and Hilton Head) has not seen a slowdown in construction, but local banks are struggling and companies are having to move to the larger banks or banks in major city markets (Atlanta.
• David Kahn and Trenton Turner from CoStar presented. Georgia is faring much better than expected and is trending in the right direction regarding: jobs, leasing, rental growth for office/industrial.