Commercial real estate sales fell 8 percent in the first half after years of record trading left fewer high-priced properties on the market.
About $220 billion of office, industrial, hotel, multifamily and retail properties traded hands in the first six months of 2018, according to CoStar data. That’s down from $238.8 billion in the first half of 2017. Office sales slumped 17 percent, to $55.9 billion, for the first half as retail sales fell 18 percent, to $39.2 billion. Hotel sales surged 30 percent to $18.1 billion, driven by a handful of blockbuster deals that boosted totals.
“Because transaction volume has been so strong in the last five years, many of the buildings have already sold,” said Hans Nordby, managing director of CoStar Portfolio Strategy. In many cases the new owners are REITS, open-ended funds and sovereign wealth investment shops that plan to sit on the properties. “They’re not ready to sell again.”
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