Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Whispers — July 26, 2024

Rents fall, Asana Partners sells Plaza Midwood portfolio, apartments rise at Eastland

Welcome to another tantalizing installment of Charlotte Commercial Real Estate Whispers, our occasional column that unveils the sultry secrets of building sales, rezonings and irresistible real estate intrigue just for you. Prepare to be seduced by the hottest insights, as the most forbidden secrets pique your professional curiosity.

Apartment rents are still falling; Uptown office ‘demolition’ update; Asana offloads Plaza Midwood properties for $25M+; Sam Ash Music site to be rezoned

◼️ Apartment rents keep on falling, all over

Although the cost of buying a house continues to rise, the cost of renting in Charlotte is continuing to fall.

New data from CoStar indicates that the recent building boom of apartments is continuing to suppress rents. That’s great for renters, of course, but not so great for the prospects of building more apartments.

CoStar says that developers have built more than 50,000 apartments in the Charlotte region since 2020, representing a 28% expansion of inventory. About 1/3 of those have been finished in the last year.

That’s pushing rents down in all submarkets, with the most pronounced drops in uptown and University City. Here are the average asking rents for the 2Q, with the change from a year earlier: