Apartment sales will likely take off in the first half of the year as a result of the presidential election in November. In the prior presidential election in 2016, sales slowed following the election results, and experts expect that sellers will front-load this year in anticipation. Aside from scheduling differences, apartment investment activity in 2020 will look a lot like it did in 2019.

"All of the indicators look normal. I think that in 2020, we will see more of the same, but with the election impending, I think that sellers will front load their deals. That is because of the potential ambiguity," Bob Hart, founder, CEO and president of TruAmerica Multifamily, tells GlobeSt.com. "When Trump was elected, there was some ambiguity in the market until things settled in with the new administration. It should be interesting, but overall, I think that it will be a robust year."

In terms of a recession, Hart says there is a 25% chance that a downturn will strike this year. "There is more fuel left in the economy," says Hart. "This may be the new normal where we see smaller recessionary dips rather than big swings. We are still game on, and we are not changing our approach."

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Kelsi Maree Borland

Kelsi Maree Borland is a freelance journalist and magazine writer based in Los Angeles, California. For more than 5 years, she has extensively reported on the commercial real estate industry, covering major deals across all commercial asset classes, investment strategy and capital markets trends, market commentary, economic trends and new technologies disrupting and revolutionizing the industry. Her work appears daily on GlobeSt.com and regularly in Real Estate Forum Magazine. As a magazine writer, she covers lifestyle and travel trends. Her work has appeared in Angeleno, Los Angeles Magazine, Travel and Leisure and more.