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Charlotte is the 15th most popular U.S. city for international investment, down from seventh but still an impressive ranking, a global research and business expert said Tuesday.
CBRE’s Spencer Levy said Tuesday that international investors are attracted to Charlotte’s job and population growth and center city development. Photo by David Dykes
“Some of the cities that are diversified in their economies – like L.A., New York, Dallas – have moved up in the rankings, while cities that are more concentrated – and Charlotte does have a concentration in the banking business – have moved down in the rankings,” said Spencer Levy, who spoke at the CREW Charlotte luncheon at the Charlotte Country Club.
“For a city of Charlotte’s size, which is only about a million people, it’s still very good to be ranked there,” he said.
Levy is the Americas head of research for CBRE and a senior member of the company’s global research team.
He plays an integral role in the development and implementation of the global research strategy and business plan. A seven-year veteran of CBRE, Levy previously worked as executive managing director in the company’s Capital Markets division.
He said Charlotte’s ranking of 15th would be included in a new CBRE report to be published next week.
After his speech, Levy noted that Charlotte ranks higher in other investment surveys.
The city was third among the top five markets ranked by survey respondents and their outlook for development, office, retail, industrial, multifamily, hotel, single family and other investment, according to Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2016, copublished by PwC US and the Urban Land Institute.
“Good job and population growth along with the development of urban centers makes the market attractive to residents,” that study said.
Levy didn’t elaborate on reasons the rankings differed.
In his assessment of the global economy and its impact on commercial real estate in the U.S., Levy said overbuilding historically has been one of the biggest risks.
In the current cycle, however, multifamily development can sustain more apartment building, “notwithstanding the fact that it’s above historic averages,” due to millennials and the ‘Silver Tsunami’ of older residents moving to downtown areas, Levy said.
“And I think the best-case scenario in the construction side is retail,” he said. “There’s been almost no new retail construction. And so anybody that’s in the retail game knows that they’ve seen a lot of older centers get a lot of occupiers that traditionally wouldn’t buy second-generation space.”
Prior to CBRE, Levy was a principal at Stifel Nicolaus (formerly Legg Mason Capital Markets), an investment bank serving the real estate industry, where he played a significant role in M&A, IPO and private capital-raising activities.
Before that, he served as assistant general counsel at the Witkoff Group and was an attorney at Fried Frank Harris Shriver & Jacobson and Jones Day Reavis & Pogue. He is a graduate of Cornell University and Harvard Law School.
