
Commercial real estate is enjoying a good run, with most sectors fully back in the saddle following the downturn of nearly a decade ago. A piece in Institutional Investor sums up the situation neatly: “In terms of property fundamentals, apartments were the first sector to recover, reaching new peak occupancy and rents in 2011… whereas industrial properties got back to peak occupancy in 2014 and hit new peak rents last year. The situation is more mixed for office and retail sectors: Office vacancies are coming down but are still elevated above the past peak levels, and retail is still really hurting, with little improvement in occupancy and almost no gains in rents overall since the recession.” So there are a lot of good opportunities for investing in CRE, but the gateway markets in particular are becoming very competitive. Taking a closer look, exploring secondary markets and other cities that are flying below the radar, there are still exciting opportunities to be found. Here are 5 less-publicized U.S. markets with great investment potential.