After taking a dip, Tampa has resurfaced as one of the biggest targets for real estate investors.

Tampa ranked No. 7 among U.S. metros for real estate investment in CBRE’s 2026 North America Investor Intentions Survey.

The annual survey put Tampa back into the top 10 in 2026 after falling to No. 13 last year.

“As one of the nation’s fastest‑growing job and population markets, Tampa is poised for a supply-driven multifamily recovery in 2026 and beyond,” Denny St. Romain, vice chairman with CBRE’s Florida multifamily capital markets team, said in a release.

Dallas held the No. 1 spot for the fifth consecutive year, followed by Atlanta and the San Francisco Bay area. Besides Tampa, other new markets that made the top 10 this year include Charlotte, Nashville and Seattle, showing that investors continue to favor high-growth Sun Belt markets while also seeking discounted opportunities in gateway cities, the report stated.

“The metro’s strong in‑migration, diminishing new deliveries and persistent homeownership affordability challenges are expected to accelerate rent growth,” Romain said in the release.

Respondents were generally more optimistic heading into the new year, with 74% saying they plan to buy more assets in 2026 than they did last year, but uncertainty surrounding long-term interest rates and the reduced size of refinanced loans are the biggest challenges expected for the year, according to the report.

“Although supply has been constrained by rising costs and shifts in capital, the convergence of shrinking development pipelines, sustained population growth and declining borrowing costs creates an especially attractive investment entry point for multifamily in 2026 and beyond,” Romain said in the release.

Multifamily remained the most-preferred sector in this year’s survey, but industrial and retail gained more favor at 37% and 27%. Office assets also jumped to 16%.