**Matching Data with CRE Investor Preferences: A Look into 2025 Trends**
Data-backed research continues to be a vital tool for guiding decisions on where to invest and how to fund commercial real estate (CRE) projects. However, according to real estate software firm Agora, there’s often a disconnect between investor sentiment and actual market behavior.
To explore this discrepancy, Agora released its latest report, “CRE in 2025: A Data-Driven Check on Industry Sentiment.” This research compares survey responses from 200 CRE professionals across the U.S. with project and capital data from the first two quarters of 2025.
Here are some of the key insights from the report:
**Southeast Emerges as Regional Leader**
Survey data showed that 28% of respondents expressed a preference for investing in the Southeast region. However, actual market data revealed that the region had a larger impact, capturing 42.7% of projects in Q1 and growing to 66.2% in Q2. While the Southwest ranked second in project volume, the Northeast came in second when it came to capital inflows.
**Multifamily Remains the Asset Class of Choice**
More than half (51%) of survey respondents identified multifamily as their preferred asset class. Supporting this sentiment, Agora’s data revealed that multifamily represented 30% of all projects in the first half of 2025, with a particularly strong showing in Q1 when it accounted for 67.6% of projects.
Mixed-use properties garnered interest from 33% of surveyed professionals but made up only 0.7% of total projects in both Q1 and Q2.
**Southwest Sees Capital Inflows Grow**
In the Southwest, 28% of investors indicated that raising capital was becoming easier. This aligns with Agora’s data, which showed a 10.6% increase in capital raised in the region year-over-year.
Interestingly, while 59% of participants in the Northeast reported increased difficulty in raising funds, the region still experienced a 3.7% increase in capital inflows compared to 2024.
These findings underscore the complex relationship between investor sentiment and actual market performance. As Agora notes, aligning strategy with real-time data rather than solely relying on perception may be the key to success in the evolving CRE landscape of 2025.
