Prices Now Grow Faster at Lower End

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

WASHINGTON, DC—Pricing trends for the first two months of the year went separate ways, CoStar Group said Friday in reporting the latest CoStar Commercial Repeat Sale Indices. The firm’s value-weighted US Composite Index, reflecting the bigger-ticket asset sales common in core markets, fell 1.4% in February 2017, after a similar decline of 1.2% the month before. Conversely, the equal-weighted US Composite Index, which reflects the more numerous but lower-priced transactions common in secondary and tertiary markets, increased by 1.4% in February on top of a 1.9% gain in January.

CoStar points out that both composite indices posted positive growth on a year-over-year basis. However, the firm says recent divergence in pricing trends likely reflects a maturing market cycle, especially for the high-value properties in core markets that led the recovery.