Commercial real estate investment increased 10% year over year in the second quarter to $167 billion, according to CBRE’s latest Capital Markets Figures report. Multifamily topped the commercial real estate sectors with $78 billion in investment volume, a 32% year-over-year increase. Industrial and logistics, down 1% from a year ago, followed with $32 billion. Office was down 9% year over year, coming in at $24 billion, while retail saw a 41% increase at $21 billion.
New York topped the markets for total commercial real estate investment volume over the past four quarters at $67 billion, followed by Los Angeles and Dallas.
For multifamily, Houston experienced 220% growth over the trailing four-quarter period ending in the second quarter, followed by Orlando, Florida; Seattle; Las Vegas; and Nashville, Tennessee. South Florida; Raleigh/Durham, North Carolina; Philadelphia; San Diego; and Indianapolis rounded out the top 10.
Private investors accounted for $102 billion, or 61%, of total investment volume for commercial real estate in the second quarter. According to CBRE, institutional investors were net buyers while private investors, real estate investment trusts, and cross-border investors were net sellers.
Inbound cross-border investment volume increased 16% year over year in the second quarter to $6.5 billion; however, it was down 9% from the first quarter due to the strengthening dollar. Canada accounted for $24 billion, or 37%, of the second quarter total for U.S. inbound cross-border investment, followed by Singapore with $14 billion and South Korea with $5 billion. Multifamily led cross-border investment with $3 billion in the second quarter.
CBRE also reported that the Real Capital Analytics Commercial Property Price Index rose 18.5% year over year in the second quarter. The industrial sector saw the biggest increase, 27%, in property prices, followed by multifamily at 24%.
