Zacks Outlook: Real Estate Development Industry Ranks Top 13% but Lags Market; Sky Harbour Cited for Hangar Shortage Exposure
Why It MattersA persistent shortage of hangars able to hold larger business jets is turning aviation real estate into a supply-constrained niche, giving purpose-built campus developers a structural advantage over broader property developers.
Zacks Investment Research's industry outlook says the Zacks Real Estate – Development industry is positioned to benefit from recovering demand in select U.S. asset classes and from constrained new supply. Industrial and logistics properties, data centers, premium office space and hospitality are cited as areas of improving demand. The aviation real estate segment is also benefiting from a persistent shortage of hangar facilities, particularly those able to accommodate larger business jets. Macroeconomic uncertainty, inflationary pressure and an uncertain interest rate path are named as headwinds.
The industry carries a Zacks Industry Rank of #32 among 247 industries, placing it in the top 13%. Over the past year it declined 27.3%, against a 14.2% gain for the S&P 500 and a 10% rise for the broader Finance sector. Its forward 12-month price-to-earnings multiple is 19.42X, versus 18.83X for the S&P 500 and 16.37X for the Finance sector; over five years the industry has traded between 5.80X and 62.92X, with a median of 12.69X.
The outlook highlights two stocks. Howard Hughes Holdings, based in Woodlands, TX, holds a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy). It reported third-quarter 2026 revenues of $636.3 million, up 63.1% year over year, driven mainly by the inclusion of Vantage's insurance operations following its $2.1 billion acquisition of Vantage Group Holdings. It sold 101 residential acres at an average of $1.32 million per acre, compared with $786,000 a year earlier, and its condominium pipeline includes $3.57 billion in future contracted revenues.
Sky Harbour Group Corp., based in White Plains, NY, builds a nationwide network of Home-Basing Solutions campuses for business aircraft, developing, leasing and managing general aviation hangars. At the end of the second quarter of 2026 it operated 1.04 million square feet of hangar and associated office and support space, plus about 2 million square feet of ramp and vehicle parking space. Second-quarter 2026 consolidated revenues rose 50% year over year and 13% sequentially, helped by new campuses, higher occupancy and higher rental rates. It carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold).
