Amar Goli, Managing Director, Carolinas & Mid-Atlantic, Northmarq

Northmarq, a full-service capital markets resource for commercial real estate investors, is counting on Charlotte’s real estate potential for the company’s growth. “Charlotte’s real estate fundamentals are stronger than they may be in a lot of other markets. These strong fundamentals are driven by the growth that we are experiencing in Charlotte and the surrounding region. We are experiencing significant job growth, population increase from people who are moving here, and strong household incomes,” Charlotte Managing Director Amar Goli told Invest:. 

What were the significant milestones and achievements for Northmarq in the past year or two?

We’ve grown to eight brokers since I took the position in September of 2023, and we’re going to continue to grow. We’re looking for the right people, those who fit our culture, and also brokers and teams who have a strong track record in the space. We’re not necessarily a company that brings in inexperienced brokers to start their own teams, because we pride ourselves on being at the top level. If we do hire good talent who doesn’t have a lot of experience, we would want to put them on an established team or into our associate program, which is a multi-year training program with the candidate being on an established team with mentorship. That’s the growth strategy now. Personally, I am focused on the growth of the Carolinas and the Mid-Atlantic regions.

The biggest milestone has been starting our commercial investment sales team in the region. Prior to that, Northmarq had an office in Charlotte for decades focused on Debt and Equity, which is what the company was founded on. Within the last decade, they added a multifamily capital markets and investment sales division that has been very successful. Andrea Howard brought over one of the top producing multifamily investment sales teams in the Southeast to the Charlotte office. We started the commercial investment sales division here recently. We are combining everything under one roof and getting some collaboration between multifamily and commercial, and of course our debt and equity teams. 

What role do you see the firm playing in the growth of the commercial real estate market in the region?

The firm is going to be the main driving force behind that growth, but it will be a responsible growth. That is what I’ve witnessed since coming here. The company is very interested in gaining market share in the region and continuing to grow as we find the right people. We are focused on adding some production lines in other commercial asset classes with established groups and in other product types where we see good growth opportunities.

What key trends are you observing within the diverse assets that you work with? 

Charlotte’s real estate fundamentals are above a lot of other markets. That’s because of the growth here, because of the number of companies, and the jobs that are being created here. It’s been positive here, and we haven’t seen as much of a slowdown as other areas have across different product types. There has been some slowdown, but the development activity has remained strong. We had 6.4 million square feet of completions in 2Q24, there are 10.9 million square feet underway in industrial, and we’ve had positive absorption across retail, office, and industrial properties.

Some of the vacancies have increased slightly, but that’s more a function of construction costs and scarcity of materials. There’s been a little bit of a slowdown in speculative industrial, but that’s going to be positive for the industry. Across all sectors – retail, office, and industrial – we’re seeing rents rise, which is a function of supply and demand. In the industrial segment, for example, they have gone up almost 3% each quarter, within the past few years, and sometimes up to even 10% year-over-year. 

Surprisingly, office rent has also increased, which hasn’t happened in some other markets, and retail rents are also increasing as well. 

As far as capital markets activity goes, for industrial, there’s less volume of sales and transactions due to the interest rate increases over the past couple of years. But the pricing remains strong. So, things that are trading and people who are selling are still achieving very strong cap rates and hitting the target exit prices they want, which shows that investors are still very bullish on the market here. 

Regarding retail, those fundamentals have remained strong. The availability rate for retail space has fallen by almost 20 basis points, down to 4.6%. There is just a lot of demand for retail now and not enough supply. That’s something we’re going to see more of in the next few years.

How is technology shaping the future of commercial real estate?

It has been a huge influence and factor in our business and strategy. Nowadays, you have companies out there that do a really good job of looking at retail properties, doing a gap analysis, showing how that particular store is performing compared to other stores, and how that particular store compares to other stores with the same brand and in other markets. We have the technology for that at Northmarq, and we have access to dozens of software programs to help our business. We are very bullish on AI and how that can help to propel our business, and the businesses of individual brokers to the next level. Internally, our proprietary software and systems are the best in the business from my experience. 

At Northmarq, we have not only the software programs and technology that are available to brokers is a big advantage, but it’s the people and support that we have for our production lines that differentiate this firm from others. It’s a huge value that you can give to clients, having all that data and putting things together, and having experts that can support the brokers who know how to utilize these tools to their full potential. Technology has been big, and most companies are investing a lot of money in new technology.

How do you foresee the commercial real estate market evolving in the Carolinas over the next few years? 

There’s a general sense out there that more deals are starting to happen now, and deals are getting priced to where it makes sense for investors compared to interest rates to get their target yields. We are seeing an uptick in activity in our commercial team in the office, for example. Other markets in and around Charlotte are starting to see a lot of development – markets like Matthews, Rock Hill, Fort Mill, Indian Land, and even Gastonia. A lot of these secondary or tertiary markets around the city are starting to develop, another example is the University City area. There’s lots of development going on, lots of new projects and new construction. 

As far as opportunities for Northmarq, there are lots of them. We’re positioned very well, in terms of new stuff that’s coming on the market, with our commercial team and our multifamily team. We added a land services team, as well, that works nationwide on development properties. They can take a piece of land, and underwrite the value and highest and best use based on different property types while connecting those sellers with active developers. Our Debt and Equity team can help with financing those deals. With all of those services, we are in a position to win those listings and help sell those properties for developers. 

I think a big advantage we have is our national platform. That’s big for our team in Charlotte, because Charlotte historically, has had strong local and regional players that have been at the forefront of development and growth. There have also been a lot of regional players in the market, but now, with the increase in national investment that wants to come to Charlotte as well as the Southeast, we are able to connect them to the market with our national investors. That is where we are very well positioned because we’re a company that has offices nationwide and our platform is nationwide, so we have some advantages over the local and regional firms to tap into that outside investment.