A road to recovery is on the horizon for the Commercial Real Estate industry. Numerous findings within the past month have found that CRE markets are showing signs for a healthy turnaround after COVID-19.A recent survey from the Society of Industrial and Office Realtor’s Snapshot Sentiment found that CRE professionals have confidence in the future of the market, showing optimism from April to May. Respondents also noted a month-over-month rise in transactions progressing on schedule.
CRE developers also noted that there were less impacts from COVID-19 within the industry in May. A survey from the Commercial Real Estate Development Association had multiple metrics of data pointing to improvements in permitting and construction delays. Survey participants also noted an increase in acquisition and development activity among properties.
At the NAREIT’s REITWeek Virtual Investor Conference, Real Estate Leaders in the industry discussed the impact of the pandemic on operations, noting that there have been positive signs for a restorative future for CRE. The conference featured panelists Steve Wechsler, NAREIT’s President & CEO and William Stein, Digital Realty Trust’s CEO. They provided the following insights to point to a successful recovery:
- Increase in foot traffic at reopened retail centers
- An uptick in leisure travel
- Improvement in apartment and self-storage leasing
- Reopened local planning and permitting offices
At SREG, we are also seeing healthy, better-than-expected signs of turnaround in the industry, especially when it comes to new prospect engagement and dealmaking. Leasing activity is beginning to re-energize, and with that, our Leasing team is taking a quick, proactive and fresh approach to the dealmaking process. New tenant prospects have noticed and are responding extremely positively to our get-it-done approach. We have also safely traveled to properties to execute prospective tenant, and on-site construction and development meetings.
Although much of the CRE industry was on hold for a short period of time, things are looking up. Our team will continue to be resilient in our efforts to ensure the best possible turnaround for our tenants, clients and properties during this time.
Source: SIOR Snapshot Survey – 5/5/20, Commercial Real Estate Development Association Survey – 6/8/20, NAREIT Virtual REITWeek Conference – 6/5/20
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