The commercial real estate industry is gradually getting a handle on how to do business during a pandemic, according to the results of the August Sentiment Survey from SIOR.
Back in April, only 26.1 percent of transactions were proceeding according to schedule, but that figure increased to 45.2 percent in the latest survey. Parallel to that, the percentages of deals on hold or subject to third-party delays decreased over the same period. Less predictably, the percentage of canceled transactions, which was 17.1 percent in April, fell in June and jumped slightly in July, only to fall to 14.7 percent in the August survey.
The survey report highlighted several findings:
- Importantly, industrial specialists reported that 49.7 percent of transactions are proceeding on time, versus 36 percent for office specialists.
- Looking at the next six months, office specialists on average have lower levels of confidence in their local markets than their industrial counterparts: 5.9 (on a 10-point scale) compared to 7.0, respectively.
- The strongest confidence was seen in industrial brokers in the Global, Canadian, and Mid-Atlantic regions, while the lowest confidence levels were reported by office brokers in the Northeast, Canadian, Northwest and West regions.
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