{"id":21248,"date":"2026-10-26T10:42:27","date_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:42:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/?p=21248"},"modified":"2026-10-26T10:43:53","modified_gmt":"2026-10-26T15:43:53","slug":"two-years-on-asheville-q3-2026-commercial-market-report","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.naibeverly-hanks.com\/blog\/two-years-on-asheville-q3-2026-commercial-market-report\/","title":{"rendered":"Two Years On: Asheville Q3 2026 Commercial Market Report"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Featured Listing (see below): 26 Lodge Street in Asheville<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Commercial Real Estate Insights<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Two years after Hurricane Helene, the story in Western North Carolina is less about recovery and more about what gets rebuilt, reused, or built new. Sales volume came in below last year’s in four of our five property categories, but the fundamentals held up. Space is still hard to find where people want it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Retail vacancy stayed at 1.3%, matching Q2 and beating the 1.7% we reported a year ago. Activity cooled: 20 lease transactions, down from 25 last quarter and 36 in Q3 2025, and 30 sales closed for $36.3 million. Less movement isn’t the same as more space, though. Busy corridors are still absorbing good second-generation storefronts, and Biltmore Village is the clearest example. About 70% of its storefronts and office spaces have been reoccupied after Hurricane Helene. Kara Irani, director of the Historic Biltmore Village Association, recently said, “It feels like Biltmore Village is in its comeback era.” Food, beverage, art, and outdoor culture keep the demand coming.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Office is the number we’d rather not skip past. Vacancy rose to 2.8%, up from 2.2% in Q2 and 2.1% a year ago, and leasing slowed to 23 transactions from 41 in Q3 2025. Eleven sales closed for $8.2 million. Still, 2.8% is a tight rate. Higher borrowing costs continue to keep big institutional buyers on the sidelines, but the employers, healthcare providers, and professional service firms that make up our local base are still looking for well-located space. They aren’t chasing speculative expansion. They want flexible offices that are convenient for their employees and clients.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Industrial moved the most. Vacancy reached 6.1%, compared with 4.4% in Q2 and 3.0% a year ago. We recorded 7 lease transactions (13 in Q3 2025) and 6 sales totaling $6.3 million. After several years of very limited availability, tenants who have been waiting now have more options.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Land was the exception to the slower sales story. Nine transactions brought in $20.9 million, up from $15.5 million a year ago, and buyers seem to be choosing sites with more care and thinking harder about how to use them. In the River Arts District, the RADA Foundation is advancing plans for a 36,000-square-foot creative campus uphill and outside the floodplain. Add recent municipal land-use updates that allow duplexes and accessory dwelling units, and you can see developers laying groundwork.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Across the nine-county region, CoStar tracked 72 properties sold and 64 leased. Buncombe County led both, with 39 sales and 41 leases, while Henderson County stood out on the leasing side with 19 leases against just 4 sales.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Heading into the fourth quarter, retail is tight, office and industrial have loosened a little, and new plans are showing up on land. None of that is dramatic. For buyers and tenants, it means block-by-block details will matter more than any regional average.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Q3 2026 Commercial Sales Activity Review:<\/h2>\n\n\n\n