While the survey covered the national market, the pandemic and the economic fallout has had a varied impact across the country. "There is wide disparity in how the pandemic is impacting various metros, as well as different asset classes. Thus, the rate at which individual metros will recover is a function of the rate of COVID-19 severity there," says Crocker. "Areas with low infection rates will likely see demand for commercial real estate bounce back more quickly than in other areas, like New York City, that were hit harder. As recovery begins to take hold, investors put industrial/warehouse/distribution at the top of the list of asset classes getting attention, followed by multifamily and vacant land."

While investor confidence is growing, there are still question marks ahead that could and will impact the recovery.  "As we move past the midyear mark, the percentage of respondents forecasting a return to pre-pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2020 or later increased from 47% to 55%, likely reflective of the significant unknowns related to a possible second wave of the pandemic necessitating another contraction in economic activity, whether federal stimulus will continue (and at what level), the extent of unemployment, the pace of recovery in property markets and other factors," says Crocker. "The next few months will be very telling as some respondents expect to see foreclosures begin to increase as tenants have difficulty filling vacancies and paying rents the longer unemployment continues. Investors are wading slowly back into the water as they carefully evaluate whether it's safe to do deals again, but there is a great deal of uncertainty and a lower tolerance for risk than we saw in the first quarter."