What are the different categories of commercial real estate?

If you’re in the market to become a commercial real estate investor — or if you’re a real estate investor who plans to increase your commercial holdings — it’s important to understand the kinds of investments that are available to you. In fact, there are many different categories of commercial real estate.

Although you might be able to subdivide the commercial real estate categories that follow or add a new category to the list, what follows will be adequate for most commercial real estate investors:

Office buildings

There are professional office buildings that house a wide variety of businesses, from doctor’s offices to real estate agencies to technology companies. Then, there are single-occupancy office buildings that only serve the needs of one company or organization.

Industrial real estate

Industrial real estate may be home to factories, plants and industrial production facilities.

Farmland

Farmland is used for agricultural purposes that relate to livestock and/or growing plant and vegetable products.

Retail and restaurant properties

Any kind of store visited by consumers to purchase products and different kinds of services, like clothing stores, barbershops, salons, bars, eating establishments, dance clubs, tailor shops and more would fall under the category of retail and restaurant property.

Residential commercial real estate

If a building houses multiple individuals for living purposes and generates rental income, it will fall under the category of residential commercial real estate.

Undeveloped land

Some land simply isn’t developed yet and/or it isn’t intended to be used for a specific purpose — or it doesn’t have any buildings on it. This kind of property may simply be referred to as “undeveloped land.”

If you’re in the process of negotiating a commercial real estate purchase or sale, you might not want to finalize your deal before discussing the opportunity with a qualified commercial real estate lawyer who can advise you of your legal rights and options.