During the coronavirus pandemic, the town of Flower Mound experienced a steeper decline in its commercial occupancy rate than its benchmark cities and DFW overall, but it is now recovering at a faster clip than those markets as well.
The town’s occupancy rate started declining in early 2019, and amid the COVID-19 pandemic, the occupancy rate dipped below 90% for the first time in five years. However, with pandemic restrictions loosening from early 2021 through today, more businesses are opening in new and existing commercial space alike. Currently, Flower Mound’s overall commercial occupancy rate of 91.6% is right on par with the DFW market’s 90.9% and the town’s benchmark cities’ 92.1%.
“Due to the economic impacts of COVID-19, 2020 saw a dip in occupancy rates across all markets,” said JP Walton, interim director of economic development for the town of Flower Mound. “Although we saw a steeper decline in occupancy rates than the average of all our benchmark cities combined and the DFW market as a whole, we also are currently experiencing a more dramatic recovery in our increase in occupancy rates since the beginning of 2021.”
Walton said the swings of Flower Mound’s occupancy rates compared to the steadiness of the DFW and benchmark cities can be explained by the larger sample size of the latter two. Flower Mound is an attractive community for new businesses, Walton said, with a slightly higher commercial rent price than that of the town’s benchmark cities and all of DFW.
“We expect our occupancy rate to continue to increase in 2021 as the market recovers from the economic hardships brought on by the pandemic,” Walton said.
.jpg)
