Altus Group releases Q4 2024 CRE industry conditions & sentiment survey findings

The Q4 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey highlights participants’ perspectives on several topics, including:

• Operating environment expectations: the majority of respondents (69% in the U.S. and 63% in Canada) described the near-term operating environment as “somewhat challenging”, largely unchanged from past quarters in 2024.

  
  

• Current focus areas: managing existing portfolios remained the current focus for majority of respondents for the next six months, followed by deploying capital.

  
  

• Near-term transaction intentions: a significant majority of respondents signalled intent to transact over the next six months. In the U.S., 90% of respondents indicated intent to transact, compared to 79% in the prior year’s survey. In Canada, it was 77% compared to 67% in the prior year.

  
  

• Perception of pricing shifts: across most property sectors in the U.S., participants increasingly described current pricing as being “priced about right.” Meanwhile in Canada, respondents still characterized much of the market as “overpriced”, though noted pricing improved for certain property types.

  
  

• Property performance expectations: multifamily and industrial asset classes continued to be top ranked, with data centers surging into first place in the U.S., while the outlook for office remained bleak.

  
  

• Priority issues: the cost of capital as influenced by interest rates remained as the top concern for the next twelve months.

“The fourth quarter survey results tracked closely with the prevailing capital market sentiment throughout most of 2024,” commented Omar Eltorai, Director of Research, Altus Group. “There’s a clear sense of growing optimism, driven by lower interest rates and a narrowing bid-ask gap between buyers and sellers. However, it will take time for this optimism to translate into market activity. The CRE market is in the process of thawing; we’ll gain a clearer picture of how quickly this recovery will progress throughout the year.”

To download the full reports by country, please use the following links:

• U.S. Q4 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey

  
  

• Canada Q4 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey