CHICAGO—The Chicago region's commercial real estate investment market slowed during the first half of 2016 following an extremely active 2015, according to a new study on investment trends by Avison Young. Overall investment sales fell 21% to $8 billion as the number of properties trading hands within the office, industrial and multi-residential sectors decreased. Still, experts say investor appetite remains strong, and expect that activity will increase throughout the remainder of 2016, especially in the industrial sector.

“Chicago is obviously one of the major industrial markets in the country,” Erik Foster, Avison Young principal and practice leader for its national industrial capital markets group, tells GlobeSt.com. “And considering that vacancy rates are at historic lows, with tenant demand still very strong, it follows that investor demand will remain strong as well.”

Industrial investment activity reported a slight decline when compared with mid-year 2015. Transactional volume dropped 19% year-over-year to $1.5 billion, partly due to a 33% decline in the number of properties sold.