Refinancing Deals Drive Capital Markets Activity in 1H

Deal volume has fallen sharply since the onset of the pandemic, but luckily refinancing transactions have kept the capital markets moving. In the first half of the year, refinancing activity drove the majority of the US capital flow.

According to new data from Real Capital Analytics, refinancing accounted for 50% of all capital flows to commercial property in the first half of the year. By contrast, new acquisitions accounted for only 30% of US capital flow to commercial property, despite the low interest rate environment. This aligns with the decrease in national sales activity, which fell by 67% in August. Year-to-date, national investment sales are down 36%, on par with the capital markets activity for acquisitions.