Several Northeast markets bolted to the top of a list of promising areas to watch next year for real estate investment and development, while Dallas-Fort Worth maintained its No. 1 spot.
Jersey City, New Jersey, soared onto the rankings of the 10 best markets, landing at No. 2 in the annual "Emerging Trends in Real Estate" survey released on Wednesday by the Urban Land Institute and professional services firm PwC. Brooklyn, New York, Northern New Jersey and Manhattan also catapulted into that group. Dallas-Fort Worth held on for a second year in a row.
"This year’s ranking of leading U.S. markets reflects the ongoing stability of several high-growth metros, alongside legacy cities that are adapting to new economic and demographic realities," said ULI, a global nonprofit research and education organization focused on real estate and land use, in the report.
The 2025 annual survey asked more than 1,700 participants in the U.S. and Canada to rank markets for investment and development prospects for next year across property types, and to rate aspects of their local markets. Those ratings were combined and calculated to determine the overall real estate rankings for 81 markets throughout the United States, ULI said. The aim is to provide an outlook for commercial real estate trends, including those relating to finance and capital markets.
"Dallas/Fort Worth is a perennial favorite for real estate investors and developers, clenching the top spot in both the commercial and homebuilding prospects list this year," according to the report. "Investors completing the survey offer strong net buy recommendations for Dallas/Fort Worth retail and industrial, although results are similar for these property types in Nashville, too."
The top-ranked market leads in projected job gains over the next five years, according to Moody’s Analytics, the Emerging Trends report said.
Business-friendly Dallas
"Dallas outperforms its rivals due to its accessibility, low cost of living, and ease of doing business," according to the report. "Known for its business-friendly environment, Dallas attracted 100 corporate headquarters between 2018 and 2024. Dallas led the state of Texas’s 111% increase in investment banking and securities employment over the past 20 years and is now the second largest financial market in the country."
Wells Fargo just debuted a $570 million office campus in Irving, Texas. And the pending launch of the Texas Stock Exchange in downtown Dallas, "along with local expansions of NYSE and Nasdaq, underscore the metro area’s status as a leading financial center," according to the trends report.
The Northeast made the greatest strides in cracking the top 10 markets-to-watch list, according to ULI.
The region "boasts the most upward movement in the rankings with 10 of 15 markets gaining in the ranks for real estate prospects," the report said, adding that four of the region's markets — Jersey City, Brooklyn, Northern New Jersey and Manhattan — are now in the top 10 to watch.
New Jersey moves up
Jersey City, the Garden State's second-largest city, came in second, moving up 17 spots from last year. Miami ranked No. 3, followed by Brooklyn, which stepped up 10 slots from last year. Houston, ranked fifth in the survey followed by Nashville, Tennessee, at No. 6.
Northern New Jersey jumped up 15 spots from last year, now ranking seventh. It was followed by Tampa-St. Petersburg, Florida, at No. 8, and Manhattan, which moved up two spots to No. 9 from No. 11. Phoenix rounded out the list at No. 10, the same ranking it had in the survey last year.
The report outlined the appeal of Jersey City, which is on the Hudson River waterfront.
"Jersey City is a fast-growing commercial hub with convenient proximity and connection to New York City that enhances its appeal to startups and established firms alike," the report said. "It offers access to top talent, investors, and global markets, while maintaining a more affordable and scalable business environment."
The New York borough of Brooklyn, part of the Northeast market contingent on the top 10 list, with its population of 2.7 million "by itself would be the fourth largest city in the country," according to the report.
"With an office inventory totaling 37 million square feet spanning from the South Brooklyn waterfront to Williamsburg/Greenpoint, Brooklyn alone is among the 40 largest commercial office markets in the country," the report said.
And with 53% of Brooklynites either millennials or Gen Zers, and 43% with a bachelor’s degree or higher, it bodes well "for Brooklyn’s longevity as a thriving commercial office market," according to the report.
"Offices in Brooklyn and Manhattan are considered a net buy according to investor buy-hold-sell recommendations in the survey," the report said. "Northern New Jersey is considered a net buy for apartments, while second-ranked Jersey City is broadly considered for acquisitions outside of office properties."
Miami tops Southeast
Miami, placing third on the top 10 to-watch list, ranked highest of the Southeast's markets in the survey.
"The buy-hold-sell results show solid investor interest in Miami’s hotels, retail, and office properties with more relative caution for apartment acquisitions," the report said.
Broadly speaking, the joint ULI-PwC report also explored how the real estate industry is adapting amid economic change, demographic shifts and rapid advances in technology.
“Technology continues to play a significant role in driving the U.S. economy, and it’s exciting to see the real estate sector beginning to integrate those advances to harness that power more effectively,” Angela Cain, ULI’s global CEO, said in a statement.
“We continue to see interest from high-growth asset classes, including data centers, senior housing, and self-storage," she said. "Combined with the expectation of additional interest rate cuts, there’s a cautious optimism in the industry as we head into 2026.”
The niche-to-essential-real-estate category includes data centers, due to the rise in artificial intelligence uses, and senior housing, due to the aging of America and "the demographic wave of boomers turning 80" that will "push demand far beyond the current capacity limits," according to the report.
And real estate firms are making use of AI tools, the report said.
"Although the stage of AI exploration and adoption varies widely across firms, the use of artificial intelligence applications is expanding across the real estate industry," it said.