CHICAGO — A stronger labor market and increasing household formation should keep commercial real estate demand on a gradual incline, according to the National Association of Realtors® most recent quarterly forecast.
Among dry cleaners polled in this month’s American Drycleaner Your Views survey, 46.5% believe that now is a good time to buy or refinance a property in their area, while 7% say conditions are good for signing or renegotiating a lease.
Roughly 12% say now is a good time to take advantage of either option, while 27.9% believe that neither option is favorable right now. The remaining 7% chose “other,” with many of those responses pointing to it being a time to sell real estate.
“Real estate values have skyrocketed in the last two years,” writes one respondent. “Prices are very high.” Without sharing his/her reasons, another respondent says we’re about a year away from it “being a great time to sell.”
When asked about their current real estate position, the majority—55.8%—say their commitments are appropriate at this time. Roughly 21% are looking to sell a property, and 7% are trying to end leases and close locations.
Roughly 9% are in the market to buy or refinance a property, 2.3% are looking to sign or renegotiate a lease, and 4.7% are open to buying or leasing.
Some of the other individual comments we received:
- “Landlords think the economy is booming, but dry cleaning is a little soft.”
- “I built my own freestanding location in 1985, and it is paid for. The recession caused a glut of available space on the market which is now approaching normal levels and driving rents higher in my area.”
- “My property (land and building) value continues to grow, and I will have it paid off in 18 months (10 years from inception). It has become a larger asset than my business, in spite of the continued growth of the business.”
- “Sales by location are too slow to expand and yet good enough to be kept open.”
The Your Views survey presents a snapshot of readers’ viewpoints at a particular moment and should not be considered scientific. Percentages may not add up to 100% due to rounding.
Subscribers to American Drycleaner e-mails are invited each month to take a brief industry survey they can complete anonymously. The entire trade audience is encouraged to participate, as a greater number of responses will help to better define owner/operator opinions and industry trends.
Have a question or comment? E-mail our editor Dave Davis at [email protected].