According to CBRE, commercial real estate investment volume in the United States remained steady at $90 billion in the third quarter of 2024. This was only a 2% decrease compared to the same period last year, which saw a significant decline of 49%. The CBRE Lending Momentum Index also showed positive signs with a 13% increase quarter-over-quarter and a 15% increase year-over-year in Q3, indicating an improvement in lending activity.
Private investors were responsible for most of the investment volume at $53 billion during Q3. On the other hand, institutional investors, REITs and cross-border investors were net sellers during this time. However, there was an increase of inbound cross-border investment by 4%, reaching $3.9 billion after five consecutive quarters of annual declines.
James Millon , U.S. president for debt & structured finance at CBRE noted that acquisition financing saw growth due to favorable leverage opportunities throughout Q3 compared to both previous quarters and last year’s figures. He also mentioned that CMBS single-asset loans continued their strong issuance pace across all asset classes while large office transactions in New York City demonstrated increased liquidity for high-quality assets backed by major institutional sponsors with conservative leverage.
In terms of loan originators during Q3 according to CBRE data analysis life companies accounted for approximately half (43%) followed by alternative lenders (34%) and banks (18%). While commercial spreads remained unchanged from previous periods at around183 basis points on average; multifamily loan spreads tightened slightly down towards168 bps over this past quarter.
