Global law firm, DLA Piper conducted a “State of the Market” survey and found that 78 percent of real estate professionals agreed that non-gateway markets will come to the forefront of investment preferences in the next 12 months (33 percent said they agreed, and 45 percent said they almost agreed).

The firm also asked those same survey respondents to rank the best non-gateway cities for commercial real estate investment and here are the results. Note, these were calculated with a weighted rank score, where the cities were ranked 1-3 using an inverse weighted scale that valued response of “1” as 3 points, response of “2” as 2 points and response of “3” as 1 point.

The survey was administered between March 10 and March 25 of this year.

11 Best Non-Gateway Cities for Investment

1. Houston, TexasHouston received a weighted rank score of 20.

2. Portland, OregonPortland received a weighted rank score of 40.

3. Raleigh-Durham, North CarolinaRaleigh-Durham received a weighted rank score of 56.

4. Atlanta, GeorgiaAtlanta received a weighted rank score of 58.

5. Charlotte, North CarolinaCharlotte received a weighted rank score of 62.

6. Dallas/Fort Worth, TexasDallas/Fort Worth received a weighted rank score of 89.

7. Nashville, TennesseeNashville received a weighted rank score of 93.

8. Denver, ColoradoDenver received a weighted rank score of 109.

9. Miami, FloridaMiami received a weighted rank score of 111.

10. Seattle, WashingtonSeattle received a weighted rank score of 173.

11. Austin, TexasAustin received a weighted rank score of 209.