Investors Focus on South Metro Properties

ATLANTA-A new investment sales trend is evolving among the metro area’s 150-million-sf retail market–investors are starting to scout the south end of the metro, pulling back from the northern suburbs, according to a new analysis by the local office of Marcus & Millichap.

“Opportunistic buyers are starting to modify their investment strategies,” notes John Leonard, regional manager of the Encino, CA-based investment services and brokerage company. “The north metro area will continue to receive the majority of investor attention in 2004, but the south metro area–south of Interstate 20–will receive additional interest due to favorable conditions.”

Those conditions include more affordable prices and higher returns than north metro cities. For example, Leonard says in 2003 the median price for single-tenant properties in the southern metro area was $201 per sf compared with $293 per sf in the northern suburbs. The average cap rate for the single-tenant product in the southern suburbs was 50 basis points higher, at 8.8%.