Analysis

Office rents did decline in 37 out of the 79 metros Moody's tracks for Q2.

Institutional planning fell 7% and commercial planning dropped 4%.

Office leasing activity in Manhattan totaled 3.47 million square feet in the second quarter, an improvement from early this year but below the five-year average.

Second quarter office absorption moved into the black, and direct asking rents increase.

The number of loans on lenders' watchlist "shows the continuing uncertainty and the tenterhooks that the market hangs on when looking at the future performance of CRE properties."

Effective US asking rents are up 2% in June alone.

While prices have dropped 50%, the prices for builders are a fraction of that amount.

The pandemic has caused many people to rethink their careers.