August 19, 2022 Commercial by Ankush Agrawal

Q2 2022 Commercial Real Estate Market Overview

U.S. commercial real estate investment volume rose by 10% year-over-year in Q2 2022 to $167 billion. Multifamily was the leading sector with $78 billion in Q2 volume, due to the resilience shown by this asset class as well as continued housing shortage. Industrial and logistics properties had $32 billion in total volume for the quarter; the pandemic not only created a boom in online retail, but also caused a permanent migration of consumer behavior towards online retail. In third place was office properties with $24 billion in transaction volume, driven by workers returning to the office.

While a sharp rise in interest rate will generally drive down real estate prices, there are many other factors at play. The Federal Reserve’s multiple increases to its target rate have both short-term and long-term effects. In the short-term, rate increases will discount the prices of real estate assets, as the market now demands a higher rate of return on those assets for sale given the same rental income. Furthermore, those assets whose mortgages are structured with variable rate without an interest cap built in will be facing increased monthly mortgage payments, which cut into net operating income and asset value. Lastly, many lenders will experience a sudden increase in their cost of capital (borrowing costs), which may cause some lenders to temporarily pull back from lending altogether. Nonetheless, the long-term impacts to the industry are positive – once the interest rate increases implemented by the Fed takes effect in reducing inflation, the U.S. economy should emerge out of recession relatively quickly and return to growth. Comparatively this is a manageable short-term sacrifice in order to prevent a much more painful longterm decline.

U.S. Commercial Real Estate Investment Volume by Quarter

U.S. Commercial Real Estate Investment Volume by Sector

U.S. Commercial Real Estate Investment Volume by Market (Last 4 Quarters)

U.S. Real Estate – Multifamily Market

In Q2 we saw an increase in the overall U.S. multifamily vacancy rate to 3.1% from 2.4% in Q1. This was the first increase in five quarters, but this vacancy level is still well below the long-term average of 4.9%. The increase was largely a result of high inflation and loss of consumer confidence, causing families to consolidate rather than rent separate units. This increase seemed to be consistent across all classes of multifamily assets in both city centers as well as surrounding areas. Not surprisingly, the average rent per unit also reached a historic new high of $2,080 per month, buoyed by continued inflation and low unemployment rate.

U.S. Multifamily Vacancy Rate and YoY % Change

U.S. Multifamily Vacancy Rate by Class

U.S. Multifamily Monthly Rent and YoY % Change

U.S. Real Estate – Commercial Retail Market

Total retail sales growth dropped to 3.8% even during an inflationary environment, a sign that the recovery in the retail sector is nearing its end, and consumer confidence may be eroding and hurting spending. Retail space absorption fell by 40% compared to Q1 and fell by 20% compared to Q2 2021, also indicative of the end of the retail recovery. Average retail asking rent grew by 2.4% year-over-year, the highest increase in more than 5 years, but it is still lagging the wage growth of 4.4% year-over-year.

U.S. Consumer Retail Sales Growth and YoY% Change