Commercial real estate industry saw some impressive activity in the first half of the year, with investment sales volume now outpacing the figure recorded at the peak of the previous cycle in 2006, according to recently released figures from research firm Real Capital Analytics (RCA). Here we break down the numbers.
Total investment sales volume recorded on sales of multifamily, office, retail, industrial and office properties in the first half of 2015: $255.1 billion. The figure is ahead of the sales volume reported for the five core commercial property types in the first half of 2006, which volume totaled approximately $201.2 billion. Click here for the latest update on U.S. commercial property prices.
Strongest sectors for investment sales transactions: Industrial (40 percent year-over-year sales growth in the second quarter) and suburban office (37 percent year-over-year growth).
Weakest sector: Multifamily. In the second quarter, the multifamily sector saw only a 13 percent growth in sales.
Major new trend: Markets that experienced the strongest sales growth year-over-year were outside the gateway cities. Click here for a list of 5 up-and-coming markets.
Breakout property types: Student housing, high street retail. RCA researchers report, for example, that “The urban storefront/high street retail niche type… has seen deal volume in the last four years at a level 159 percent higher than that seen in the four years into 2008. Investors have really caught on to the urbanization play…” Click here for a look at the most expensive high streets in the country.
Top-ranked sales: Six of the 10 biggest investment sales transactions that took place so far this year involved properties in New York City, with the $2.2 billion sale of 1095 Sixth Avenue to a joint venture of Caisse de Depot and Callahan Capital Partners taking first place. Other sales in the Top 10 included the Willis Tower in Chicago, the Hilton Orlando Bonnet Creek in Orlando, Fla., the Verizon Center in Basking Ridge, N.J. and 50 Fremont St. in San Francisco.
Top commercial real estate buyers by volume were: Global Logistic Properties, the Government of Singapore (GIC), Blackstone, Norges and Prologis.
Global Logistic Properties and GIC were also the top two buyers by number of properties.