If the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, maybe there is a CRE equivalent. According to Green Street's Real Estate Alert, for consistency and growth, small was the way to go last year.

"Property sales valued at $5 million to $25 million continued to hold up better than the institutional marketplace in 2022," the firm wrote. "Some $90.4 billion of private-capital sales closed in 2022, up 7.7% from $83.9 billion in the prior year. The tally is 65.2% higher than the $54.7 billion of smaller sales recorded in 2019, the first year Real Estate Alert surveyed the private-capital space. By comparison, the $25 million-and-over market was down 21.5% year over year and just 25.8% higher than three years ago."

Two reasons for private-capital sales to grow were hotels and retail. Sales were respectively up 58.5% and 30.4%. "And the office, multifamily, and industrial sectors performed better than their institutional counterparts," Green Street noted. "That's not to say the private-capital space didn't slow down. The fourth quarter saw just $20.5 billion of trades close, down 36% from the 2021 peak of $32 billion. But compare that with the institutional space, where fourth-quarter sales sank 69% year over year."