IRVINE, CA—Deal activity may have been slowed by the looming specter of tax reform, which prompted investors to delay transaction closings until the new, advantageous legislation took effect in 2018, according to Ten-X Commercial. The firm's latest Commercial Real Estate Volume & Pricing Trends report shows that CRE transaction volume declined to $117.4 billion in Q4; according to Real Capital Analytics, this amount represents a 0.5% decline from the prior quarter.
Interestingly, the decline can is connected to one property sector: industrial. Coming after two quarters of growth, the minor quarter-on-quarter decline is attributable to a $6.7 billion drop in deal volume in the industrial sector. Compared to the year-ago period, fourth-quarter investment activity plunged by 13.2%, while the annual figured dropped 6.9% to $445.2 billion.
“Uncertainty around tax-reform-related policy undeniably weighed on deal volume late last year, but the legislation that eventually passed is expected to be beneficial to the real estate industry,” said Peter Muoio, Ten-X's chief economist, in a prepared statement.
Recommended For You
Want to continue reading?
Become a Free ALM Digital Reader.
Once you are an ALM Digital Member, you’ll receive:
- Breaking commercial real estate news and analysis, on-site and via our newsletters and custom alerts
- Educational webcasts, white papers, and ebooks from industry thought leaders
- Critical coverage of the property casualty insurance and financial advisory markets on our other ALM sites, PropertyCasualty360 and ThinkAdvisor
Already have an account? Sign In Now
*May exclude premium content© 2025 ALM Global, LLC, All Rights Reserved. Request academic re-use from www.copyright.com. All other uses, submit a request to [email protected]. For more information visit Asset & Logo Licensing.
Carrie Rossenfeld
Carrie Rossenfeld is a reporter for the San Diego and Orange County markets on GlobeSt.com and a contributor to Real Estate Forum. She was a trade-magazine and newsletter editor in New York City before moving to Southern California to become a freelance writer and editor for magazines, books and websites. Rossenfeld has written extensively on topics including commercial real estate, running a medical practice, intellectual-property licensing and giftware. She has edited books about profiting from real estate and has ghostwritten a book about starting a home-based business.
