Commercial Real Estate Reclaims Top Spot in SitusAMC Investor Survey

Preference to buy and sell converged in the second quarter for the first time in several years, signaling potential alignment on pricing.

By the Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk·Thursday, September 3, 2026·2 min read

Editorial summary of reporting byCommercial Observer Our editorial standards →

The answer · checked against Commercial Observer

Why has commercial real estate returned to the top of investor preference surveys and what does the convergence of buy and sell sentiment mean for deal activity in 2026?

SitusAMC's ValTrends 2Q 2026 Real Estate Report finds commercial real estate has returned to the top of SitusAMC's quarterly investor preference survey, with investors viewing CRE as stable amid tariffs, the war in Iran, and broader market uncertainty. Notably, the preference to buy and the preference to sell converged for the first time in several years, signaling potential pricing alignment. Monthly CRE transaction flow has averaged $42 billion since June 2022, down from $192 billion in the prior year.

Key facts

SitusAMC's ValTrends 2Q 2026 report found commercial real estate returned to the top of SitusAMC's quarterly investor preference survey, with Peter Muoio attributing the result to investors viewing CRE as stable relative to other asset types amid tariffs, the war in Iran, and heightened uncertainty.
Peter Muoio of SitusAMC Insights said the preference to buy and the preference to sell within CRE met in the second quarter of 2026 for the first time in several years, suggesting a potential meeting of the minds between buyers and sellers on pricing.
SitusAMC's Peter Muoio said that since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in June 2022, CRE transaction flow has averaged approximately $42 billion per month, compared with an average of $192 billion per month in the year prior to that date.
SitusAMC's ValTrends data showed the percentage of investors naming office as their preferred asset class jumped from a persistent range of zero to 1 or 2 percent to 22 percent in fourth quarter 2025, before settling at 11 percent in second quarter 2026, according to Peter Muoio.
SitusAMC's ValTrends 2Q 2026 data showed retail investor preference at 21 percent for the quarter, compared with 9 percent a year earlier, according to Peter Muoio.
Peter Muoio of SitusAMC said the 10-year Treasury was at 4.7 percent over the past several weeks and that easing uncertainty and lower interest rates are needed to reopen CRE transaction, refinancing, and investment activity.

Commercial Real Estate Reclaims Top Spot in SitusAMC Investor Survey — Image: editorial illustration · Story sourced from Commercial Observer

Commercial real estate reclaimed the top position in SitusAMC's second-quarter 2026 investor preference survey, marking a shift in sentiment as capital flowed toward assets perceived as stable during a period of heightened market uncertainty. The quarterly survey tracks investor attitudes across asset classes.

Peter Muoio, senior director of SitusAMC Insights, attributed the shift to investors viewing commercial real estate as stable relative to other asset types amid circumstances including tariffs, the war in Iran and heightened uncertainty. Cash also remained strong for similar reasons, while stock and bond markets exhibited wide fluctuations, he said.

The survey found that the preference to sell matched the preference to buy in the second quarter. Muoio said that marked the first convergence of the two in several years. Since the Federal Reserve tightening cycle that began in 2022, buying and selling preferences had diverged, with hold becoming dominant.

The convergence suggests a potential meeting of the minds between buyers and sellers in terms of where things stand, Muoio said. If people's perceptions of the state of the market are becoming more in line, that can indicate a growing potential for more transactions to take place, he said.

Investors now take a more balanced view of asset classes than in recent years, according to the survey. Over the past several years, multifamily had been the most favored by far, and by a significantly high percentage, Muoio said. From time to time, industrial saw big numbers owing to rapid growth in artificial intelligence and data centers.

In the fourth quarter of 2025, the percentage of investors naming office as the preferred asset class jumped to 22 percent from a range of zero to 2 percent that had persisted over prior years. That figure was 11 percent in the second quarter of 2026, still significantly higher than recent levels. Retail climbed to 21 percent in the second quarter from 9 percent a year earlier.

Muoio cited significant reductions in office pricing, an increase in conversions of office buildings to multifamily space, and maturities changing hands as drivers of renewed interest in the sector. The discipline of both equity capital and debt capital remains relatively constrained compared to history due to uncertainty, he said, and analytics are becoming much more property- and micro-area-specific. Investors must be very selective in lending and equity investing, he said, because returns now vary more widely from property to property than historically.

The Deployment Angle

Family Office Real Estate Daily Desk · our analysis, not the source's

The convergence of buy and sell preferences argues for direct co-investment alongside operating partners with established tenant relationships rather than blind-pool funds. If the bid-ask gap is closing after three years, the sponsors best positioned to capture that reset are those who underwrote assets in 2021 and 2022 and have spent the hold period managing occupancy and repositioning capital stacks. A family office writing checks into those recap opportunities can negotiate preferred equity or profit-participation structures that institutional LPs cannot access at scale.

The shift toward office and retail warrants sector-specific separate accounts rather than diversified core funds. Office preference rose from near zero to 11 percent in two quarters, and retail climbed from 9 percent to 21 percent year-over-year. That dispersion rewards nimble capital that can move quickly into single-asset or single-metro deals as pricing resets create entry points. A programmatic joint venture with a regional office owner in a market where debt maturities are forcing sales gives the principal line-of-sight control and the ability to exit on the family's timeline, not a fund's.

Underwrite the higher return variance Muoio cited. If property-level performance is diverging more than it did historically, then portfolio construction matters more than asset-class allocation. That means stress-testing tenant credit at the lease level, modeling micro-market supply pipelines building by building, and avoiding any deal where the sponsor's underwriting is top-down or relies on metro-wide rent growth assumptions. The families that will outperform in this environment are those willing to walk away from transactions that do not survive granular, asset-specific diligence.

Questions this story answers

01Why has commercial real estate returned to the top of investor preference surveys in 2026?

Peter Muoio of SitusAMC said investors view commercial real estate as stable in turbulent times relative to other asset types, amid circumstances including tariffs, the war in Iran, and heightened uncertainty. Muoio noted that cash has also been strong for similar reasons, while stock and bond markets can exhibit wide fluctuations.

02What does the convergence of buy and sell preferences in CRE mean for deal activity?

Peter Muoio of SitusAMC said the preference to buy and the preference to sell met in the second quarter of 2026 for the first time in several years. Muoio said this suggests a potential meeting of the minds between buyers and sellers and that if market perceptions are becoming more aligned, it can indicate a growing potential for more transactions to take place.

03How far has CRE transaction volume fallen since the Fed started raising rates?

Peter Muoio of SitusAMC said that since the Federal Reserve raised interest rates in June 2022, CRE transaction flow has averaged approximately $42 billion per month. Muoio said the average in the year prior to that period was $192 billion per month, representing a significantly lower deal flow environment that has persisted for four years.

04Which commercial real estate asset classes are gaining investor interest right now?

SitusAMC's ValTrends 2Q 2026 data showed retail investor preference at 21 percent for the quarter versus 9 percent a year earlier. Office preference stood at 11 percent in second quarter 2026, still significantly higher than the persistent zero-to-2 percent range of recent years. Peter Muoio said investors are looking more broadly across CRE asset classes than they recently have.

05What would need to happen for CRE transaction activity to pick up meaningfully?

Peter Muoio of SitusAMC said the industry needs less uncertainty and lower interest rates, which he described as intertwined. Muoio noted the 10-year Treasury was at 4.7 percent in recent weeks and said that if uncertainty and interest rates begin to ease, it would allow the volume of transactions, refinancings, and investments to begin to open back up.

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Original reporting

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