NEW YORK and TORONTO, Sept. 25, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Altus Group Limited (“Altus” or “the Company”) (TSX: AIF), a leading provider of asset and fund intelligence for commercial real estate (“CRE”), today released the findings from its Q3 2024 CRE Industry Conditions & Sentiment Survey, a quarterly survey that collects insights on current market conditions and future expectations. The latest survey draws on feedback from 437 seasoned CRE professionals representing over 163 firms in the U.S. and Canada from July 11 to August 6, 2024.

The Q3 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 67% in Canada) described the near-term operating environment as “somewhat challenging” – consistent with the sentiment expressed the prior quarter in both markets.
  

• Current focus areas: primary focus over the next six months remains on managing existing portfolios and exposures, with an uptick in respondents indicating they plan to deploy capital (up 11 percentage points in the U.S. and up 2 percentage points in Canada over the prior quarter).
  

• Transaction intentions over the next six months: a significant majority of respondents (89% in the U.S. and 75% in Canada) signalled intent to transact, nearly 10 percentage points higher than last quarter for both countries.
  

• Perception of pricing shifts: across the largest property sectors in the U.S., participants increasingly described current pricing as being “priced about right”, while in Canada respondents still characterized much of the market as largely “overpriced”.
  

• Property performance expectations: industrial and multifamily asset classes continued to be top ranked as best performers, with office consistently ranked as a worst performer.
  

• Priority issues: the cost of capital/interest rates remained as the top concern, reflecting overall low expectations for capital availability.
  

“The survey results revealed lingering concerns in the commercial real estate market in Q3, though there was increasing optimism about future improvements,” commented Omar Eltorai, Director of Research, Altus Group. “While CRE transaction activity remained muted in the face of high borrowing costs and expectations of impending interest rate cuts, last week’s rate cut in the U.S. should boost investor sentiment, potentially encouraging those on the sidelines to re-engage with the market.”

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