80% of Firms Plan to Move or Expand, Survey Indicates : Costs: Most prefer sites in the Southeast. They rate expenses as the major reason for favoring a location. Quality-of-life issues take on less importance.

Nearly 80% of companies responding to a nationwide survey have plans to relocate or expand, most in the next three years, according to a study released Sunday.

North Atlanta, Dallas’ northern suburbs and the Raleigh-Durham, N.C., area topped the list of preferred sites, said the joint study by Ernst & Young accountants and the International Assn. of Corporate Real Estate Executives.

The respondents ranked financial costs as the highest priority in determining location, the study found.

“We are clearly looking at a bottom-line approach these days and less of a quality of life approach,” said Michael Evans, national director of Ernst & Young’s real estate advisory services.

Of those companies planning to move or expand, four out of five expect to do so in the next three years, the study said.

Companies in the Northeast may continue to move south in search of operational cost savings, it showed, and California firms are likely to move inland from the coast but may remain in the state rather than fleeing to Nevada and Arizona.

The study, which will be released in its entirety within the next month, unsurprisingly found that the sluggish economy has magnified the importance of operating cost issues.

Evans told an annual symposium of the National Real Estate Advisory Services that companies indicated that they are increasingly looking at the prospect of creating new jobs and hiring new employees rather than relocating employees.

Therefore, issues such as climate, cost of living and housing affordability are less important than previously.

The survey asked corporate respondents to chose from a list of 40 locations nationwide.

It did not identify all of the respondents, but it said 57.5% employed more than 10,000 people and averaged 46 years in business.

Ernst & Young concluded that with Atlanta, Charlotte and Raleigh-Durham among the top four sites, the Southeast may have the strongest “mega-growth” corridor.

In the West, Salt Lake City, Sacramento and the Seattle-Tacoma area were cities of choice.

The Midwest ranked behind only the Southeast as a manufacturing and distribution site but near the bottom, with the Northeast, as an office location.

Only one in 10 respondents indicated that they are attracted to central business districts. Instead, they prefer office space and industrial parks.

Half of the respondents prefer to lease real estate, while 30% prefer built-to-suit buildings. Those surveyed represent 10 million square feet of manufacturing space, 9.3 million square feet of distribution space and 4.2 million square feet of office space.