Global Real Estate Mostly Resisted Headwinds

The myriad headwinds that the global commercial real estate market has faced in 2022 — soaring inflation, higher interest rates, post-pandemic workplace arrangements, geopolitical tensions and more — might have slowed transactions. This has largely not been the case for deals priced USD 10 million and greater, however, as the charts below show.

The Americas continued to defy predictions of a major slowdown, with deal volume and the number of transactions through the end of July well above the record-setting pace of 2021, although it should be noted that it was in the final quarter of last year that deal volume accelerated significantly.

Asia-Pacific — the region least affected by high inflation and energy-supply issues — has struggled to keep pace with previous highs, especially in the number of deals that have been executed. As of the end of July 2022, the region was well below 2021’s pace. Volume declines were not as significant up to this point.

Maybe the most surprising aspect of the global deal flow is Europe, the Middle East and Africa (EMEA), with Europe facing a series of seemingly market-chilling events since the start of the year. Despite fears of a summer slump as inflation rates across Europe spiked, the U.S. dollar volume of deals actually maintained the pace of previous years. The count of deals has also largely kept in line with 2019 and 2021 momentum.