SANTA BARBARA, CA—The past decade has represented a new, and in many respects lower-flying, environment for US office investment compared to the previous 10 years, according to Yardi Systems' COMMERCIALCafé. Although the top two office investment markets since 2008 have been the same as those in the years from 1997 to 2007, the rest of the top 10 looks quite different over the two decades, and the pool of top investors has changed even more dramatically.

What's also apparent is that while the office investment sales market has regained traction since the Global Financial Crisis, it's not hitting quite the same peaks as it reached in the prior cycle. The post-recession peak was reached in 2015 with volume of $115 billion in sales of $5 million or greater, compared to $135 billion in 2007.

A look at the top 10 investors from '08 to '17 reveals not only a different roster compared to the previous decade, but also a lower tally. The current pool of leading investors spent a total of about $75.1 billion on office over the past 10 years, compared to a total of more than $117 billion invested by their counterparts of the previous cycle.