Investment Advisory
Opportunity Zones: What Still Works in 2026
Colton Elliott · May 30, 2026 · 7 min read
The deferral math has changed, but the structure remains powerful for the right hold period and the right asset. A practical read for owners with a large gain.
Opportunity Zone investing has quietly become a long-hold discipline rather than a deferral trick. The remaining advantage sits almost entirely in the step-up after a full hold, which means asset selection and sponsor durability matter far more than tract eligibility.
We evaluate three things before recommending a qualifying asset: whether the business plan survives a full hold without a refinance, whether the sponsor can carry the asset through a soft cycle, and whether the property would be worth owning even with no tax benefit at all.
That last test disqualifies most of what gets marketed as an Opportunity Zone deal. A weak asset in a qualifying tract is still a weak asset — the tax code does not fix a bad basis.
For clients with a large realized gain, we model the qualifying path alongside a straightforward taxable reinvestment, then choose on total after-tax outcome rather than headline benefit.
Want this applied to your asset?
We'll run the same analysis against your property and send back the range plus the assumption that breaks it.
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