A new report lists Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach among the best places to invest in Opportunity Zones.
Chicago-based Cushman & Wakefield (NYSE: CWK) analyzed more than 45 markets that contain 31% of the nation’s Opportunity Zones in its July report “In the Opportunity Zone: Location. Timing. Capital.”
The firm scored the areas on their tax regulatory environment, economic factors such as job creation and population growth, along with commercial real estate figures like office and multifamily inventory.
In total, six Florida metros made the Top 25, including South Florida’s largest cities. Four of those six ended up in the top 10, giving Florida the most out of all states in the list.
Here’s more in what the report found:
Sunbelt markets lead the group, as growing populations support economic and CRE fundamental outlooks and the tax regulatory environments are generally favorable for development. Fast-growing markets in California and the Mountain West also appear, including the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Portland (OR), Seattle and Manhattan.
The report comes as more areas like South Florida are looking to draw investments into their Opportunity Zones. Created by the U.S. government through the Tax Cuts & Jobs Act of 2017, the program aims to direct private economic investment into historically disadvantaged areas by offering capital gains tax deferral benefits to investors.
There are 123 Opportunity Zones in South Florida, including 67 in Miami-Dade, 30 in Broward and 26 in Palm Beach counties.
Almost 16% of South Florida’s commercial assets are located in Opportunity Zones, one of the highest rates in the nation, according to commercial real estate platform Reonomy.
Original content the SFBJ