Russia's invasion of Ukraine this week portends a hike in Western-backed sanctions against the former, but commercial real estate experts say the immediate effect on the sector will be "negligible." 

"The impact on commercial real estate will likely be indirect, as the effects of the conflict feed through into commodity prices, inflation, bond yields and ultimately perhaps economic growth," Real Capital Analytics' Tom Leahy says in a new analysis. "The main mechanism is likely to be through higher energy prices, which add to the inflationary forces already being felt across most European economies."

Brent crude prices hit $100 a barrel for the first time since 2014 early yesterday, and prices of natural gas in Europe also spiked immediately following the invasion. Russia accounts for nearly 40% of all of the European Union's gas imports, however, so the effect of reliance on Russian gas for countries like Italy and Germany will potentially be "widely felt," according to Leahy.