Where California Investors Are Buying This Year

California investors are still bullish on the California market. Although California has matured, it stills offers phenomenal fundamentals and future stability, according to Robert Held of Held Properties. Held is also actively buying in Phoenix and Salt Lake City, where he sees a long runway and growth potential. He recently sold a 70,000-square-foot office building in San Jose for $19 million, but plans to be a net buyer this year in California, Phoenix and Salt Lake City.

“I am still bullish on California as well as specific markets in Arizona and Utah for both residential and commercial investment. The California market is a mature, stable market historically with robust job growth,” Held, CEO of Held Properties, tells GlobeSt.com. “Unlike any other market, it also has tremendous barriers to overcome, making new construction expensive and slightly older product more competitive. My favorite California markets include all of West Los Angeles, the northwestern San Fernando Valley, coastal communities, northern San Diego and the San Francisco Bay area. While these areas all have strong growth histories, we believe there is still plenty of runway left.”

In Phoenix, Held is bullish on both commercial and multifamily properties, thanks in large part to tech industry growth. However, the low barrier-to-entry dynamics give him caution. “Prior to 2008, Phoenix was considered a back-office location. With a younger, more educated population, its has now become a major tech center,” says Held. “Phoenix has recovered quite nicely from the recession and is showing signs that it will become a major metropolitan area in the near future, which bodes well for both commercial and multifamily investment. The main concern with Phoenix is that there are no barriers to enter this market, which could pose a problem with unregulated growth in the future.”

Salt Lake City is also among Held’s top markets. The market has a long runway ahead and has similar growth fundamentals as other top markets in the West. “The Salt Lake City metro is a diamond in the rough with tremendous potential.  With its new airport scheduled for completion in coming years and a transitioning downtown, it has all the makings of the next big western metropolitan center,” explains Held. “Utah is known for its well-educated, young, families that have a good work ethic. For families and active adults, Utah is a sports mecca as it has four-seasons sports from skiing in the winter to mountain sports in the summer. Also, Utah, with its mountains has geographic barriers to entry, limiting growth. I predict, in the near future, Utah will be the next major growth area.”

This year, Held is planning to acquire two A- or better mid-sized residential properties of around 100 units and two, post-2000 construction commercial properties of at least 100,000 square feet in those markets. In addition, it also plans to reposition its existing product. “Although we would love to acquire core plus properties, we feel that there are no current opportunities available given our investment criteria,” adds Held.