Altus Group, a leading asset and fund intelligence provider for commercial real estate (CRE), has released its inaugural U.S. Transactions & Investments Quarterly Report today, covering national transaction activity for Q3 2024.
Altus Group’s transaction data analysis stands out from other industry reports by covering a broader range of transaction activity and slicing the data at a very granular level. This quarterly report offers a comprehensive overview of national commercial sale transactions across major property sectors, focusing on transaction volume, pricing, and pacing, with further insights by property subtype and at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level. While other reports tend to focus on large transactions, Altus takes a more holistic view of the market capturing single-asset transactions exceeding $100,000 in sale value.
Q3 2024 U.S. Transactions & Investments Quarterly Report
The U.S. commercial real estate market recorded $40.1 billion in dollar value transacted in Q3 2024, compared to $43.0 billion in Q2 2024 and $44.4 billion in Q3 2023. On an aggregated national basis, transaction activity in Q3 2024 remained down compared to the prior quarter and over last year across the following three key metrics:
National transaction activity in Q3 2024
| Key metric | Sequential change over Q2 2024 | Year-over-year over Q3 2023 |
|---|---|---|
| Count of properties transacted | -10.0% | -9.9% |
| Dollars transacted | -6.6% | -9.6% |
| Square feet transacted | -3.8% | -11.4% |
“While transactions continued to decline during the third quarter, the rate of decline has slowed which potentially reflects an improving financing environment and increased optimism,” said Cole Perry, associate director of research at Altus Group. “Interestingly, 10 of the 15 property sub-sectors saw a positive quarter-over-quarter price growth per square foot, led by mixed-use, manufacturing, automotive and office properties. The granularity of our data provides valuable insights, helping CRE professionals stay on top of trends and identify the sectors that will lead the market recovery.”
Key Q3 2024 transaction activity highlights
- During Q3 2024, transaction activity slowed but at a moderating pace. The year-over-year change in number of transactions in Q3 2024 was -11% for multifamily (vs. -33% in Q3 2023 over Q3 2022), -6% for industrial (vs. 31%), -15% for office (vs. -32%), and -9% for retail (vs. -36%).
- Year-to-date cumulative transaction volume remains low; the number of properties transacted is at its lowest since 2011, transaction dollar volume is at its lowest since 2013, and square footage transacted is at its lowest since 2010.
- The average count, dollar volume, and square footage of transactions on a given day during Q3 2024 sat at or below pandemic-era lows for all property types; however, the average square footage of an individual transaction increased quarter-over-quarter sequentially for all property sectors in Q3 2024.
- The average price per square foot of transacted properties rose by 1.2% quarter-over-quarter in Q3 2024, with increases across all sectors except hospitality, which fell by 2.6%.
- The multifamily sector posted $12.2 billion in dollar volume transacted in Q3, representing the largest contribution (30.4%) by a single sector. This was followed by industrial with $9.9 billion (24.7%), office with $8.0 billion (20.0%), and retail with $6.1 billion (15.3%).
Click here to access the full Q3 2024 U.S. Investment & Transactions Quarterly Report.
Note: Property and transaction-level data are sourced from Altus Group’s Reonomy product, with data pulled on October 15, 2024 and transactions recorded through September 30, 2024 (the close of Q3 2024). Not all transactions for Q3 2024 were available as of October 15, 2024, so estimates were made to reflect national transaction activity. For information about the data contained in the report and methodology, please see the full report.
