3 Reasons Nashville's A Growth Market

Some markets grow, others not so much. What makes Nashville a growth market in development, leasing and sheer real estate mojo? We asked NAI Nashville president Devin McClendon.

The Region's Strong

Middle Tennessee is attractive to those who endured a much more severe downturn in other states for a number of reasons: wages, cost of living and a business-friendly climate. "Our region has been led by strong municipal and state elected officials advocating for a business friendly climate," Devin says (right, snapped with clients he's entertaining). "The more conversations I have with out-of-state investors, the more I hear that not having a state income tax is a big deal."

Millennials Like It

"We recently posted an entry-level position on LinkedIn" says Devin. "In less than 20 days we’ve had more than 85 applications, a vast majority from those in the Millennial generation and from out of state." One reason Millennials want to be here is it’s hard to beat Nashville and Middle Tennessee’s authenticity (music is no small part of that). Where the future workforce goes, so will employers.

Nashville's On The Map

Finally, growth begets growth. For the last 50 years or more, Devin says, Nashville's primarily been developed and owned by Nashvillians. More recently, investors, developers and builders have been pouring in. This creates a lot of demand in a market with not a lot of product, and a good bit of the record prices are simply driven by the law of supply and demand.