After months of cautious optimism, commercial real estate prices are showing measurable signs of recovery, with high-value properties driving February's gains, according to CoStar. The growth marks the latest step in a post-pandemic rebound that has seen eight consecutive monthly increases since mid-2025.
CoStar's two main indexes—each built from 20 years of historical repeat-sales data—capture how property values are shifting across markets. The February results were based on 1,266 repeat-sale pairs from a database of 341,897 transactions dating back to 1996.
The equal-weighted price index, which reflects smaller deals typical of secondary and tertiary markets, rose 1.3% last month. Meanwhile, the value-weighted index, more sensitive to large institutional transactions, climbed 1.7%. The spread between the two indicates an uneven but continuing recovery, with institutional investors gradually returning to high-end assets while smaller properties appreciate at a slower pace.
"The February data point to a market taking deliberate steps forward," said Chad Littell, CoStar's national director of U.S. capital markets analytics and author of the report.
"Prices are no longer falling. But a broad-based resurgence, one that lifts all property types and market tiers equally and simultaneously, is not what we're seeing. For now, properties offering durable and appreciating contractual income at a discount to peak pricing are finding favor."
Littell used the term "stabilizing" rather than "surging," reflecting ongoing volatility. Within the equal-weighted index, the investment-grade subindex posted a 1.5% increase in February—the strongest monthly gain among all segments—while the general commercial subindex declined 0.3%, its only negative reading.
Looking at the longer trend, the value-weighted index fell sharply between September 2022 and June 2025 before beginning to rebound. As of February 2026, it remained 16.6% below its pre-decline level. During the same period, the equal-weighted index rose 6.8%, underscoring its steadier performance across lower-priced markets.
Despite the upward movement, challenges remain. Littell noted that refinancing continues to be a "pressure point" for owners contending with higher interest rates, rising vacancies and constrained rent growth—all factors slowing the pace of recovery.
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