Y-O-Y Sales Drops May Be Reversing

CoStar Group headquarters in Washington, DC. (Photo: CoStar)

WASHINGTON, DC—The rap on 2016 specifically, and on commercial property sales generally, has been that volume has diminished and that pricing gains have slowed. However, the latest reports from CoStar Group and Real Capital Analytics, although reflecting November results rather than the year-end push, suggest that the pace may actually be picking up.

CoStar said last week that both of its national CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices—equal-weighted and value-weighted—advanced by more than 1% in November, following a year-to-date monthly average of 0.7% in the two price indices. The equal-weighted index rose 1.1% in November and is now 3.2% above its pre-recession peak, while the value-weighted index advanced 1.3% during the month, putting it nearly 28% ahead of its pre-recession high.