While there are plenty of reasons to be optimistic about the commercial real estate market—even in the midst of a pandemic—but investors should also have realistic expectations about the recovery. With a prolonged shutdown of businesses, there will likely be a slow recovery period. More importantly, a vaccine will be essential to a true recovery.

"Any forecast needs to anticipate the possibility of a slower-than-expected recovery in employment and recovery from the long-term business closures triggered by the pandemic," Dianne Crocker, principal analyst at LightBox, tells GlobeSt.com. "Also, until there is a widely available, reliable vaccine for COVID-19, our economic recovery will be constrained. I expect the recovery from this economic downturn to be very uneven. Recovery is going to vary by metro as some were hit harder by COVID. A metro like New York City saw much more impact from COVID than many smaller metros and of course, suburban and rural communities did. Different levels of impact has resulted in inconsistencies in reopening, which further perpetuates an uneven recovery."

The recovery will also be uneven in terms of asset classes. As we have seen during the pandemic, some asset classes, like industrial, have benefitted from the pandemic, while others, like hotels, have been hit hard. "Right now, industrial, multifamily and vacant land are dominating much of the activity," says Crocker. "As federal assistance that protected property owners from the impacts of rent non-payment fade, we could see foreclosures tick up and the level of distressed assets in the market increase. As owners and lenders deal with distress in coming quarters, I'd expect to see more reliance on auctions as an avenue for reaching prospective buyers to divest properties quickly and efficiently."