Volume Decline May Eventually Hit Comps

KBW headquarters in Midtown Manhattan.

NEW YORK CITY—Even as demand and liquidity remain healthy and commercial property fundamentals still trend positive for the most part, both sales volume and growth in pricing and leasing metrics continue to decelerate, says Keefe, Bruyette & Woods. This could eventually have an impact on comps.

Citing data from Real Capital Analytics, KBW points out that transaction volume through October was down 7% year over year in terms of value and 1% in the number of properties that traded. In the third quarter, the decline was 5% for value, although the number of properties that traded was up by 3.5% Y-O-Y.