Property purchases by cannabis companies appear to be on the decline, according to a recent report by the National Association of Realtors.
The association, which features more than 1.5 million real estate professionals across the country, published its semi-annual report, Marijuana and Real Estate: A Budding Issue, based on survey responses from about 3,200 members.
In states that legalized recreational cannabis more than five years ago, 14% of survey respondents saw an increase in cannabis companies purchasing property instead of leasing, a drop from 20% in 2021. Likewise, in markets that went legal within the past five years, the same statistic fell from 29% in 2021 to 18% in 2023. Meanwhile, medical-only markets saw the most significant change, with 21% of agents seeing an increase in property purchases in 2021, compared to just 4% this year.
However, overall demand for commercial properties appears to be continuing to rise, with the highest number of respondents seeing increases in warehouses in mature recreational markets (29%), warehouses in emerging recreational markets (25%), storefronts in medical-only markets (23%) and storefronts in both mature and emerging recreational markets (18%).
Only 5% of respondents in mature recreational markets saw a decrease in demand for storefronts and for warehouses; in emerging recreational markets, 4% saw a decrease in demand for storefronts and 1% for warehouses.
— Garrett Rudolph