Charlotte, Tampa Among CoStar’s List of Top-Performing Retail Markets in 2025

Key Terms

total return financial

Total return measures how much an investment grows over a period by combining changes in its market price with any income it pays (like dividends or interest), usually shown as a percentage. It matters to investors because it gives a complete picture of performance—similar to looking at your paycheck plus any year-end bonus rather than just the hourly wage—so you can compare investments more fairly and judge real wealth change.

market price index financial

A market price index is a single number that summarizes how the prices of a selected group of stocks or other assets move together over time, acting like a thermometer for overall market levels. Investors use it as a benchmark to see whether their holdings are gaining or losing value, to compare performance, and to gauge market risk and trends; it makes complex price changes easy to track and compare, like checking a single temperature instead of reading many thermometers.

greenfield housing development technical

A greenfield housing development is new residential construction built on land that has not previously been developed, such as open fields or former farmland. For investors it matters because these projects start from scratch — offering higher potential returns from creating whole neighborhoods but also carrying bigger upfront costs, permitting and infrastructure risks, and sensitivity to local demand, similar to building a house on an empty lot versus remodeling an existing one.

grocery-anchored centers technical

Grocery-anchored centers are shopping centers where a supermarket or grocery store serves as the main tenant and draws regular shoppers to the property. For investors this matters because the grocery acts like a steady magnet that brings consistent foot traffic and typically signs long-term leases, which supports stable rental income, lower vacancy risk, and makes the property more resilient during economic downturns.

online real estate marketplaces technical

Online real estate marketplaces are websites and apps that bring property listings, photos, pricing tools and transactional services into a single, searchable place — like a digital shopping mall for homes and commercial space. They matter to investors because they change how quickly properties are found, valued and sold, create revenue opportunities from listings and services, and provide large datasets that can influence market pricing and investment decisions.

ARLINGTON, Va.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- Charlotte and Tampa were listed among the best-performing retail markets in 2025, according to CoStar, the leading global provider of online real estate marketplaces, information and analytics in the property markets.

The top 10 retail markets of 2025

Among the Top 43 U.S. retail markets with at least 100 million square feet of inventory, Charlotte ranked first, outperforming all other markets when looking at asking rent growth (+7.4%) and total return (11.6%).

This year's top-performing rankings were based on five equally weighted indicators: Percent of inventory leased, availability rate, market rent growth, change in sales volume, and total return for retail properties as measured by CoStar’s market price index.

“Sunbelt cities continue to dominate rankings due to demographic growth and business-friendly conditions,” said Brandon Svec, national director of retail analytics at CoStar Group. “After coming in sixth place last year, Charlotte’s rise to the top was predicated on demographic tailwinds, a diversified economy, and a disciplined supply pipeline.”

Charlotte’s white-collar job growth in 2025 outpaced a slower national labor market, fueling substantial greenfield housing development in the suburbs. Neighborhood retail, particularly newly built grocery-anchored centers, has been a magnet for brand expansion from fitness, discounters, grocers, and home goods-related tenants.

Other high-performing markets reflect a mix of established growth hubs and emerging contenders. In Florida, Tampa and Orlando continue to benefit from strong population inflows and tight retail space availability, while Dallas’ performance was helped by its scale and transaction activity.

The full analysis can be found here.

For more information about the company and its products and services, please visit costargroup.com.

About CoStar Group
CoStar Group (NASDAQ: CSGP) is a global leader in commercial real estate information, analytics, online marketplaces, and 3D digital twin technology. Founded in 1986, CoStar Group is dedicated to digitizing the world’s real estate, empowering all people to discover properties, insights, and connections that improve their businesses and lives.

CoStar Group’s major brands include CoStar, a leading global provider of commercial real estate data, analytics, and news; LoopNet, the most trafficked commercial real estate marketplace; Apartments.com, the leading platform for apartment rentals; and Homes.com, the fastest-growing residential real estate marketplace. CoStar Group’s industry-leading brands also include Matterport, a leading spatial data company whose platform turns buildings into data to make every space more valuable and accessible, STR, a global leader in hospitality data and benchmarking, Ten-X, an online platform for commercial real estate auctions and negotiated bids and OnTheMarket, a leading residential property portal in the United Kingdom.

CoStar Group’s websites attracted over 143 million average monthly unique visitors in the third quarter of 2025, serving clients around the world. Headquartered in Arlington, Virginia, CoStar Group is committed to transforming the real estate industry through innovative technology and comprehensive market intelligence. From time to time, we plan to utilize our corporate website as a channel of distribution for material company information. For more information, visit CoStarGroup.com.

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News Media Contacts

Haley Luther

Senior Communications Manager

(216) 278-0627

hluther@costar.com

Source: CoStar Group