Big picture trend leans toward the suburbs for the next few years—and investors should take note, according to one industry watcher.

CRE momentum appears to have shifted, at least in part, to the suburbs even as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes. According to Marcus & Millichap data, in Q4 2019 the average apartment vacancy rate in a downtown area was 4.2%—but by the end of 2020, it had risen to 6.3%. That's the most dramatic one-year vacancy rise on record, according to John Chang, the firm's senior vice president and director of research services, and "the biggest movement was to the local suburbs," he says.

The pandemic spurred changes in housing drivers, to be sure, but "this wasn't just a pandemic driven event," Chang says. "The migration to suburban living was already underway before the pandemic but the health crisis accelerated the movement."