The pandemic has been called an accelerator, fueling trends that were already on track. Industrial is the prime example. The market has, in many ways, been a beneficiary of the pandemic. On the other hand, office and retail assets were already set for major changes, and now those changes are hitting harder and faster than anyone expected.

"Office and retail are two sectors whose challenges were really brought to the surface by the health crisis, and both point to new opportunities for redeveloping, repurposing and reinvesting real estate assets to meet evolving demand," Dianne Crocker, principal analyst for LightBox, tells GlobeSt.com.

Retail was already fighting against the rise of ecommerce. Now, ecommerce is expanding even more rapidly than ever before while retailers are left navigating health and safety restrictions to keep shoppers safe. "Prior to COVID-19, the retail sector's struggle against e-commerce was well told," says Crocker. "Today, not only have the owners of "non-essential" stores had to cope with extended closures, but an even broader swath of the population now routinely shops online, making the environment for brick and mortar stores that much more challenging."