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DFW Tops Commercial Real Estate Investors’ List

DFW: Dallas-Fort Worth remains at the top of the list of the best places for commercial real estate investment in the United States. It’s the fifth straight year that DFW has led the country in the North American Investor Intentions Survey conducted by CBRE Group Inc. Atlanta came in second and the San Francisco Bay area was third. The report looked at commercial real estate investors’ optimism entering 2026, with nearly 75% surveyed saying they intended to buy more assets than the previous year. About 75% of those in the survey said they would prefer apartment developments. PwC and the Urban Land Institute noted in its Emerging Trends in Real Estate 2026 report that Dallas-Fort Worth was the top commercial and residential real estate market to watch in 2026 because of its diverse economy, relative affordability and business-friendly environment.

DFW: He’s put countless real estate deals together over the years. Now, Rex Glendenning has purchased more than 800 acres in Gainesville with plans for a large community of single-family homes and multifamily units. Glendenning and his wife Sherese bought the Pace Ranch that sits along Interstate 35 just outside of Gainesville’s city center. Future plans for the site could include up to 1,000 single-family homes and between 1,000 to 2,000 apartment units on the 400 northern acres. An industrial park with warehouses is a possibility for the southern portion of the parcel. Glendenning is the founder of REX Real Estate that has been active in the Metroplex for four decades, handling mostly commercial land deals.

U.S.: Existing home sales dropped by 8.4% across the country in January compared to December 2025. Industry analysts say it’s too early to tell if the drop in month-over-month sales could have been impacted by extremely cold and treacherous weather that plagued much of the country for about a week in late January. The National Association of Realtors says in its recent report that year-over-year sales dropped 4.4% last month. Month-over-month sales were down in all regions of the country. Some good news: the NAR says that the median existing-home price for all housing rose to $396,800, up 0.9% from January 2025. It also said that its Housing Affordability Index rose in January to 116.5, from 111.6 in December and 102.0 from January 2025.

U.S.: The number of married couples owning homes continues to drop. The U.S. Census Bureau reports that the percentage of married households in large metropolitan areas is now at 47%. That’s down from about 66% in 1975. And the portion of those married couples with children also has gone down to 37%, as opposed to 54% in 1975. Findings over the past several decades have shown that many young adults are putting off marriage until later years (or avoiding it altogether). According to the NAR, the metro area that had the most married couples was Provo, Utah, with 68%. The smallest was Greenville, North Carolina, at just over 34%. The organization reported last year that the median age of first-time homebuyers had risen to a record 40 years old, up from 38 in 2024.

FLORIDA: Billionaire Mark Zuckerberg is adding Florida to the list of states in which he owns property. The Meta founder is reportedly working on closing a deal on a new waterfront estate on Miami’s exclusive Indian Creek Island, referred to as Billionaires Row. The home sits on nearly 2 acres and is reportedly worth between $150 million and $200 million and is not close to a mega-compound owned by Amazon’s Jeff Bezos. Zuckerberg’s estate overlooks Biscayne Bay and includes a main house, a swimming pool and several other buildings. Zuckerberg and his wife Priscilla Chan have a sprawling compound of multiple houses in Palo Alto, California, and they also own homes in other parts of California and in Hawaii, and Washington, D.C. Zuckerberg joins other California billionaires who recently bought homes in other states ahead of a proposed California tax on billionaires that may come to a vote later this year.

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