Commercial Real Estate Trends and Statistics

Commercial real estate is a dynamic industry that's been significantly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. We curated this list of 33 commercial real estate trends to provide an accurate look at the state of the industry.

COVID-19 Commercial Real Estate Trends

• On average, commercial real estate sales volume fell by 1% during Q1 2020. (NAR)
• 39% of U.S. workers have returned to their company’s private office space or a shared coworking space. (Clutch)

• 82% of U.S. workers agree employers should use additional measures to make offices safe as employees return during the pandemic. (Clutch)
• In October 2019, 42% of commercial real estate owners and operators believed their technology investments would increase somewhat in the event of an economic downturn. (Deloitte)
• 91% of businesses are already acting to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in their offices. (Clutch)
• 73% of NAR-registered realtors saw an increase in co-working and alternating or staggered job schedules in July 2020. (NAR)
• In October 2019, 76% of commercial real estate owners and operators were optimistic about the performance of the commercial real estate industry over the next 18 months. (Deloitte)
• 36% of commercial real estate leaders believed financing or interest rate risk were the biggest challenges to the commercial real estate industry in late 2019 before the COVID-19 pandemic. (Deloitte)
• 61% of employees in the U.S. continue to work remotely. Among these remote workers, preferences for returning to the office vary: 19% of current remote workers wish to go back to an office as soon as possible; 15% want to return after September 2020; 13% prefer to wait until 2021, and 15% don’t want to return at all. (Clutch)

• More than half of U.S. workers (55%) feel safe working from an office as soon as September 2020. About one-third (32%) feel unsafe. (Clutch)
• Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, investment in U.S. commercial real estate is expected to decrease between 5% and 10% from 2019 investments. (CBRE)

Leasing and Vacancy Statistics

• Commercial leasing volume fell 4% in the second quarter of 2020. (NAR)
• In 2019, CBRE projected the tech industry to comprise more than 20% of commercial leasing activity. (CBRE)
• NAR-registered realtors reported a 25% commercial real estate vacancy rate in Q2 of 2020. (NAR)
• Hotel real estate vacancy rose to 75% in the second quarter of 2020. (NAR)
• The office vacancy rate in the U.S. was at 11.5% in Q1 2020. (Colliers)
• 66% of U.S. office markets have vacancy rates below the national average. (Colliers)
• The volume of new leases for commercial real estate properties declined 1.5% in Q1 2020. (NAR)

Construction Trends

• Construction on commercial real estate properties declined 5% in 2020 Q2. (NAR)
• 84% of NAR-affiliated realtors reported they expect construction projects to be delayed in 2020. (NAR)
• The supply of available office space will outpace demand by 20 million to 30 million square feet in 2019. (CBRE)
• According to 2019 forecasts, commercial rent costs were expected to grow 5% in 2020, which is on par with previous years. (CBRE)

Offices and Office Space Trends

• Flexible office space will make up 2.1% of the commercial real estate market share in 2020. (CBRE)
• The most popular office layout is a mixed floor plan or a combination of private workspaces with communal work areas. 42% of office spaces have this type of mixed floor plan. (Clutch)
• One in five U.S. workers has a private office space. (Clutch)

Retail Space Trends

• Commercial leases in shopping malls were down between 7% and 10% in July 2020. (NAR)
• Retail vacancy increased by 20% in the second quarter of 2020. (NAR)
• Atlanta is the top market for retail rent growth. The area saw an approximately 4% increase in rent growth in 2019. (CBRE)
• At peak store closure in 2020, 263,250 stores were closed in the U.S. (This is about 62% of all stores.) (Colliers)
• U.S. retail has seen a 6% decline in growth in 2020 compared to positive growth of 3.5% in 2019. (Colliers)
• U.S. retail has seen nearly 15.8 million square feet of vacant space absorbed since Q1 2020. (Colliers)

Commercial Real Estate Technology Trends

• In October 2019, 59% of CRE executives said they don’t currently use augmented reality (AR) technology, but plan to in the future. (Deloitte)
• The primary markets for data centers in the U.S. -- Atlanta, Chicago, Dallas/Ft. Worth, New York Tri-State, Northern Virginia, Phoenix and Silicon Valley -- accounted for more than 56% of the tenant demand in 2018. (CBRE)

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