1. COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE DEAL VOLUME
• After a large swath of investors sat on the sidelines in 2020, last year proved to be the most active year
for commercial real estate sales on record. According to Real Capital Analytics, $808.7 billion of U.S.
CRE assets changed hands in 2021— an 87.8% increase over 2020’s pandemic impacted total and an
equally impressive 34.8% above 2019’s previously held peak.
• Of the core-four commercial property types (Apartment, Office, Retail, and Industrial), the Office sector
was the only one to not see 2021 transaction volumes eclipse their 2019 peak. While transaction volumes
did rise by a reassuring 56.5% year-over-year, they remained down from 2019’s levels by 3.5%.
• Apartment transaction volumes surged to new heights in 2021, totaling $335.3 billion last year— just shy
of the total set in 2019 and 2020 combined. Measured 2021’s deal volume total grew by 128.2% year over year. Moreover, last year’s final tally stands 73.6% higher than the total set in 2019.
• Industrial deal volume grew by 56.2% in 2021, the lowest growth rate of the core-four property types.
However, the primary reason why the Industrial sector’s relative growth rate is lower than its market peers is that it maintained strong transaction volumes in 2020. Compared to the previously held 2019
peak, 2021’s Industrial deal volumes totals finished up by a robust 41.6%
• Retail sector deal volume recovered admirably in 2021, reaching $76.9 billion in asset sales. For the year,
transaction volumes grew 87.9% compared to 2020 levels and 16.4% over its 2019 benchmark.