2017 East South Central Region Forecast

Alabama . Kentucky . Mississippi . Tennessee

Dodge Data & Analytics had six projects in this region valued at over $100 million — the $217.3 million Turnberry JW Marriott and $128.4 million SoBro 3 Marriott in Nashville; the $160 million Nissan factory and warehouse building in Smyrna, Tenn.; the $177.2 million Omni City Convention Center in Louisville, Ky.; and the $154 million SMP Automotive Systems project in Cottondale, Ala. Nashville has become an economic powerhouse in the residential market, and its 8,277 single-family and 5,568 multi-family starts year-to-date rank 8th and 9th in the nation respectively. At 4.2%, the Nashville metro had one of the lowest suburban office vacancy rates in the nation, as tallied by CBRE Research for 2Q 2016. Its 11.9% downtown office vacancy rate was slightly higher than the national average of 10.3%. Interestingly, this region had three metros amongst the nation’s hottest housing markets, when measured by building permits per 1,000 residents — Huntsville and Auburn, Ala., Nashville, and Clarksville, Tenn.

Key Economic Indicators

Need a quick read on the economic health of the key metros in this region? Just click on the region's largest Metropolitan Statistical Areas (MSAs) outlined in red. Once the pop-up window you can use the vertical scroll bar to see statistics on local Construction & Manufacturing Employment; building permits; unemployment and population growth.