More Tri-Cities commercial property came to market last month, and more of it moved

Commercial real estate transactions across the Tri-Cities region totaled 157 in June, up from 124 a year ago. Land accounted for 134 of those transactions. Multi-family delivered the fastest growth.

Multi-family transactions saw a 120% increase from last year. That is the strongest year-over-year gain of any property type in the June report from the Northeast Tennessee Association of Realtors® (NETAR).

June transactions compared to June last year

• Total- 157, up from 124
• Land – 134, up from 108
• Multi-Family – 11, up from 5
• Retail – 6, no change
• Office – 5, up from 2
• Industrial 1, down from 3

Land sets the pace; multi-family sets the direction

Land was 85.4% of all June transactions. It was 87.1% a year ago. Land has dominated this market for years. It signals interest in the region and is not necessarily a construction forecast.

Volume and momentum are different measures. Land grew at roughly the same rate as the market overall. Multi-family grew at more than four times that rate.

The multi-family gain follows regional housing pressure. Home prices and mortgage rates have kept many households renting longer than they planned. Investors respond to that.

Land is one side of this market. There were 23 transactions when land deals are excluded from the total. That is the combined total for multi-family, retail-commercial, office, and industrial. The same four categories produced 16 transactions a year ago.

Supply is growing and clearing faster

Active commercial inventory reached 608 listings, up 11.4%. New listings rose 21.0% to 75.

At June’s pace, the region has about 3.9 months of commercial supply. That figure was 4.4 months last June.