A survey conducted by DLA Piper found that 78% of real estate professionals believe non-gateway markets will be preferred locations for investment in the next year. The survey ranked Houston as the best non-gateway city for commercial real estate investment, followed by Portland and Raleigh-Durham based on weighted scores from respondents. The survey was administered between March 10-25 of this year.

1. Global law firm, DLA Piper conducted a “State of the Market” survey and found that 78 percent of
real estate professionals agreed that non-gateway markets will come to the forefront of
investment preferences in the next 12 months (33 percent said they agreed, and 45 percent said
they almost agreed).
The firm also asked those same survey respondents to rank the best non-gateway cities for
commercial real estate investment and here are the results. Note, these were calculated with a
weighted rank score, where the cities were ranked 1-3 using an inverse weighted scale that
valued response of “1” as 3 points, response of “2” as 2 points and response of “3” as 1 point.
The survey was administered between March 10 and March 25 of this year.

2. 1. Houston, Texas
Houston received a weighted rank score of 20.

3. 2. Portland, Oregon
Portland received a weighted rank score of 40.

4. 3. Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina
Raleigh-Durham received a weighted rank score of 56.

5. 4. Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta received a weighted rank score of 58.

6. 5. Charlotte, North Carolina
Charlotte received a weighted rank score of 62.

7. 6. Dallas/Fort Worth, Texas
Dallas/Fort Worth received a weighted rank score of 89.

8. 7. Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville received a weighted rank score of 93.

9. 8. Denver, Colorado
Denver received a weighted rank score of 109.

10. 9. Miami, Florida
Miami received a weighted rank score of 111.

11. 10. Seattle, Washington
Seattle received a weighted rank score of 173.

12. 11. Austin, Texas
Austin received a weighted rank score of 209.