U.S. Commercial Real Estate Sales are Rebounding Back to Pre-pandemic Levels

In some states, the commercial real estate market is looking to be just as it was before the pandemic hit. While large metropolitan areas such as New York and San Francisco have yet to a rise in property sales for office buildings and hotels, sunbelt cities have posted record sales for apartments with amenities, warehouses, and buildings that cater towards biotech and pharmaceutical companies.

In the second quarter of 2021, investors had purchased nearly triple that amount than that of the second quarter of 2020. The average sales volume for commercial real estate during the second quarter of 2015-2019 was $127.2 billion. In 2021, that number has approached $144.7 billion. This is a surprising number for many observers who have been closely following our current global financial crisis.

Many of the regions with the highest growth for commercial real estate are areas where populations have risen since the pandemic. Many people have edged out of city-living to be in surrounding suburbs. This is especially true in Sunbelt cities.

However, for cities like New York and San Francisco, investors have yet to see a rebound in commercial transactions for office spaces, as many businesses are shifting to working-from-home models, many of which are keeping indefinitely.