COVID-19 remains front of mind for investors and occupiers, despite the recovery in global economic activity that began in May. Real estate activity remains subdued because investors need more certainty about the sustainability of economic growth and occupiers need a safe way of returning workers to the workplace.

Much weaker commercial real estate investment volumes in Q2 reflect the impact of lockdown measures and border controls enacted to combat the COVID-19 crisis.

CBRE EA hosted a roundtable, July 8th, featuring our investment-focused senior economists and a CBRE industry and economic expert to discuss the state of the market.

Analyzing the impacts on industrial real estate from shifts in global trade and supply chains brought on by recent events like the U.S-China trade conflict and COVID-19 pandemic.

In a series of ViewPoints, EA economists provide outlooks on the macro economy, rent, availability, and sector recovery projections.

Office and Industrial sectors continue to show strength, while the Retail sector has begun to trend down. Office rent continued its growth (3% y-o-y) into the second quarter, boosted primarily by strong U.S. leasing activity. Industrial rent observed strong upward growth (3% y-o-y) across all regions.

Global commercial real estate (CRE) investment fell by 5% (measured in fixed US$) and by 6% (seasonally adjusted) in the first three quarters of 2019 compared to the same period last year.