The late Thomas P. (Tip) O’Neill, Jr., former Speaker of the House, once said, “All politics is local.” From campaigning for election to signing a bill into law, the most informed decisions are made when local voices are taken into consideration. The same could be said of real estate.
Take a moment to really think about this statement. Sure, real estate spans the globe and analyzing the data from broad markets allows us to see overarching trends, but the most valuable real estate information exists at the local level. When making the decision to rent or buy, local market data provides the most accurate and relevant information needed to understand your options and what’s best for you and your business. But finding this information isn’t as easy as you might imagine.
Often real estate market data comes in the form of various graphs and tables that, while they offer valuable information, don’t often break the data down to the most local level.
That’s why we do.
Omni Realty is the only Commercial Real Estate Broker that offers local market data on all commercial real estate investment classes: Industrial; Office; and Retail. Every quarter, we take the lastest market reports and break them down into local summaries that we share on our blog each month, highlighting the most interesting and important trends. Sure we’re passionate about real estate, but the real reason we take the time to provide these market reports is for our clients. Real estate decisions can be stressful and confusing, but when equipped with knowledge, you can gain a sense of control and confidence.
Here’s how we do it. In analyzing metropolitan areas, we use geographic designations to help group properties together, called Markets, Submarket Clusters and Submarkets. Markets are the equivalent of metropolitan areas (or areas containing a large population nucleus) that, together with adjacent communities, have a high degree of economic and social integration. Markets are then divided into Submarket Clusters. These are core areas within a metropolitan area that are known to be competitive with each other in terms of attracting and keeping tenants. Submarket Clusters are further subdivided into smaller units called simply Submarkets, which serve to delineate a core group of buildings that are competitive with each other and constitute a generally accepted competitive set, or peer group.
You can see how this very specific data might be hard to track down and analyze – which is why many of the large market reports only go as local as the “Philadelphia Market.” This is a huge territory that includes everything from urban to rural submarkets. This broad data is less than helpful when making a local renting or buying decision here in Central Pennsylvania. So for the benefit of our clients, we break down the data to make it more relevant. And based on our expertise, we also offer insight on the trends and what they mean for you.
President of Omni Realty, Mike Kushner has been actively involved in the local commercial real estate market for over 28 years as an investor, developer, broker and manager. Nearly three decades of working in this industry provides Mike with a specific and unique expertise in local commercial real estate. And he is passionate about sharing this knowledge with the community. Check back each month or subscribe to our blog in the top corner of this page for Omni’s local market reports and other insights into local commercial real estate.