Charlotte Retail Market Report

Vacant single-tenant spaces are becoming harder to find. Outside of Dallas-Fort Worth and Houston, no other major Sun Belt market has posted as substantial of a drop-off in new supply as Charlotte. Deliveries from March 2019 to March 2024 fell 3.7 million square feet short of the five years prior. Newer net-leased spaces have become hard to find, especially single-tenant properties delivered over the past five years, as this cohort carried a sub-1 percent vacancy rate in March. While tenant expansions are being motivated by the growth of Charlotte's historically less-dense suburbs, strong demographics in these areas continue to be mismatched with retail building. Cabarrus, Iredell, Lancaster and Union counties expect their local household counts to each grow by at least 8 percent through 2028, with limited new speculative supply expected during the span.