The first quarter of 2022 may have technically been a winter-to-spring transition, but CRE metro markets were particularly hot in the Sun Belt and West, with Florida walking away with the top five out of 16 markets. That's according to the National Association of Realtors' Commercial Real Estate Metro Market Conditions Index. Only one market—Boston—was outside of those regions.

The organization says that the index, which shows relative performance, "is calculated using 25 variables pertaining to the metro area's economic conditions (job growth, unemployment rate, wage growth), demographic conditions (net domestic migration, population growth), commercial market conditions for multifamily, office, industrial, and retail property sectors (vacancy rate, absorption, rent growth, cap rate, professional/business services, and retail trade job growth) and employment conditions in the hotel/lodging industry (job growth, share of leisure and hospitality workers to total employment)"

An index number for an area above 50 means that market conditions were stronger than a national average while one below 50 means weaker. The index combines upwards of 25 variables, depending on what information is available.