With its diversified industry base and strong presence within the health care and health management industries, Nashville is positioned to ride out this economic storm better than comparable markets in the United States. While Nashville has, in the first quarter, shown more susceptibility to economic conditions, the relative absence of substantial office and industrial overbuild combined with the market’s multiple year history of upward trending and net in-migration leads us to believe that this market will demonstrate its resiliency.

To further bolster the market’s desirability, Nashville managed to buck the nationwide trend of spiraling housing prices with a slight uptick in pricing. Of particular significance, Nashville never experienced the depths of cap rate compression at the peak, nor has it suffered the scope of bankruptcy and tenant fallout in the aftermath, which we have seen in other markets.

Nashville affords great opportunities for investors who intend to stay with the investment long enough to reach the other side of this economic chasm.

The bottom line? We remain cautiously bullish on Nashville as one of our target markets most likely to outperform over the long-haul, along with a select group of additional sunbelt cities.

For more insight on the Nashville market or commercial real estate in general, please contact FORT Vice President of Real Estate Robert Alter.