CHICAGO-The National Council of Real Estate Investment Fiduciaries, an association that tracks more than 6,300 properties across 195 markets in the United States, has released second quarter data that shows the rate of return rose to 3.94%. This was the sixth consecutive quarter of positive return, and is higher than the first quarter rate of 3.4%.

The group has a significant involvement and interest in institutional investments, and keeps data on the properties, which include all commercial asset classes. According to the second quarter report, though the economic news was inconsistent, the disconnect between capital markets and fundamentals has started to fade. While cap rates across almost 200 US markets dropped slightly from 6.10% to 6.06%, same store NOI rose and vacancy rates dropped.

Jeffrey Havsy, lead researcher for the council, tells GlobeSt.com that the geographic regions and product types are still flip-flopping back and forth on total return. For example, edging out apartments for lead was the industrial market, with a 4.49% total return. “Exports have been doing relatively well for a few quarters, but we haven’t seen that reflected until now,” Havsy says.

Office had a 4.45% total return, while apartments came in at 4.21%, hotels at 3.52% and retail at 2.53%. For the year, apartment still leads at a 21.4% total return, according to the report.

Also, properties along the West Coast finally snapped the lead streak by the East Coast. The West Coast saw a 4.83% total return, compared with a 3.91% East Coast total return in Q2. “We saw Washington, DC and New York City in the lead for so long. Now areas such as the San Francisco Bay Area and Seattle are broadening the recovery within the commercial real estate world,” Havsy says. The East Coast had a 3.91% total return, while Midwest had 3.19% and the South had a 2.99% total return, according to the report.