AI is doing marvelous things in commercial real estate right now. But this story isn't about that.

The second quarter return is a "major reversal" from the negative 1% in the previous quarter and made for the second biggest swing in the past 94 quarters, according to Trepp.

Rents in New York have been dropping since the pandemic started. Last month they dropped another 1.1%, which means rents are down 3.3% when compared to last year, said Apartment List's latest New York rent report.

While earlier affordable housing analyses have shown strong income growth for renters, those figures are skewed by the influx of high-income households.