It’s been a challenging two and a half years for the commercial real estate (CRE) industry, but data points are gradually emerging that indicate we may be at or past a trough in market activity, at least for some asset classes. The Mortgage Bankers Association’s (MBA) second quarter release of CRE lending activity showed that commercial loan ... Read More ›

The last three and a half years have been a whipsaw of a ride for the multifamily market. Following the surge in leasing demand during the pandemic, demand to own apartment buildings boomed, which drove transaction volume to record highs. Shortly thereafter, the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates to combat inflation that turned out not ... Read More ›

Retail properties have been a relative bright spot in a commercial real estate (CRE) market that’s otherwise been disrupted by higher interest rates. Though there are lots of different types of retail properties, they all share one thing in common: their success is driven in part by strong consumer retail spending. But, beyond the strength of the ... Read More ›

It’s no secret that office properties are, on average, struggling more than other property types. With tenants requiring less office space than they did only a few years ago, office prices are down by approximately 50 percent in urban locations, compared to pre-pandemic levels. The main driver behind this trend is now a familiar story – remote ... Read More ›

The rapid and broad adoption of remote work spurred by the pandemic allowed people to work in residential space, instead of office space, at a scale unimaginable just a few years ago. This dramatically reduced the demand for office space, with particularly steep contractions in some markets. While the final depth of this demand contraction remains ... Read More ›

There weren’t many apartment units purchased in the first quarter of this year. In fact, purchases of multifamily properties dropped to the lowest levels observed since the early days of the pandemic four years ago. One clear contributor to this decline is the increased cost of capital – interest rates are considerably higher than they were ... Read More ›

Multifamily transaction volume in the first quarter of 2024 hit the lowest levels observed since the early days of pandemic quarantines. In a recent blog post, we analyzed what types of units were trading in terms of unit quality – that is, Class A, B or C [1]. In this X-Factor, we’ll examine multifamily transaction volume, but from different ... Read More ›

It’s hard to know what apartment buildings are worth nowadays. With multifamily transaction volume at its lowest point in four years, comparable transactions, or “comps”, which are often used as a reference point to estimate value, are few and far between. The limited availability of comps increases the uncertainty of property valuation estimates. ... Read More ›

Commercial Real Estate (CRE) transaction volume is usually measured in terms of nominal dollars. “Nominal” just means that these dollars aren’t inflation adjusted. Of course, inflation surged to levels not seen since the early 1980s in 2022. But standard inflation adjustments leave something to be desired in the case of CRE transaction volume, as ... Read More ›

Similar to the for-sale housing market, apartment leasing trends are seasonal. Typically, both renters and home buyers are more likely to move in the spring than in the winter. After all, while people in warm-weather climates might have an easier time moving year-round, for many it’s hard to move when there’s snow on the ground or other inclement ... Read More ›