If you’re looking for CRE markets that are insulated from downturns, college towns are a good place to start. The Creative Class post “Where Unemployment Is Worse Than Expected” analyzes the performance of various metro areas in this recession. Here’s one of their graphs:
Low and to the left is good (Iowa City), high and to the right is bad (Detroit, Kokomo and Elkhart). An excerpt from the post:
College towns number among the best performers, doing much better than predicted: Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, home to University of Illinois (-2.2); Iowa City, University of Iowa (-1.81); Manhattan Kansas, Kansas State University (-1.82); College Station, Texas, Texas A&M (-1.74); New Haven, Connecticut, Yale University (-1.54); State College, Pennsylvania, Penn State University (-1.47); Boulder, Colorado, University of Colorado (-.93); Austin, Texas, University of Texas (-1.0); Ann Arbor, Michigan, University of Michigan (-.94); and Ithaca, New York, Cornell University (-.97), among others.
The correlation isn’t perfect; for example, the metros with the major Oregon universities (Eugene and Corvallis) have both underperformed. However, the relatively stable employment base and demand for services created by large universities tend to buffer these markets. And, since employment is the most important determinant of CRE performance, CRE in these markets tend to do better.
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