US commercial real estate transaction volume started the year with a whimper. A new report from Real Capital Analytics shows a 58% decrease in year-over-year transaction volume in January.

The fumble comes on the heels of record activity in December, when transactions volumes increased 8% year-over-year. January experienced similar declines to the second and third quarters of 2020, which directly followed the onset of the pandemic.

Transaction volumes in January fell across property types at double-digit rates, with the exception of senior housing. This was a pivot from December transactions when apartment and industrial sales took off, driving the majority of activity. Even office properties had a good month with the highest transaction volumes since 2019. It should be noted that it is typical to see an end-of-year rush and RCA adds that the activity was likely compounded by investors closing delayed deals from earlier in the year.