Commercial real estate poised for ‘stellar year’ in 2020

The U.S. commercial real estate sector is on track for “one of its strongest years on record” in 2020, with billions of dollars likely to be invested according to commercial real estate servicer and investment firm CBRE.

CBRE said the commercial real estate sector will see total investments of between $478 billion and $502 in 2020, which would be around the same amount invested in the industry over the previous two years.

That figure includes money that would go towards multifamily housing, retail space, data centers, office space, industrial buildings and more, CBRE said.

“Amid slower economic growth and global uncertainty, U.S. commercial real estate will remain a haven for investment in 2020,” the CBRE report predicted.

CBRE offered several reasons to justify its claim, including low interest rates, low inflation, strong consumer spending and increased capital flows into the commercial real estate sector.

“Barring any unforeseen risks, we assess that a recession will be avoided, thanks in large part to the stimulatory effects of the Fed’s rate cuts in 2019,” CBRE said. Still, the company predicted overall “tempered growth” in the market due to uncertainty over trade negotiations, weakness in manufacturing, and the upcoming presidential election.

“Next year will bring deceleration on a few fronts, but this still is an expanding economy and a flourishing property market,” said Richard Barkham, CBRE’s chief economist and head of Americas research. “We’ll see resilience across asset classes such as office, retail and multifamily as demand continues to buoy those sectors. And we see transaction volumes and capitalization rates staying relatively stable.”