Still not through even the first quarter of 2024, sales numbers from the latter half of 2023 offer the best recent trend data on how markets are moving, or not. For single-tenant net lease (STNL) sales, that means constricted, according to Colliers.

"A volatile capital markets backdrop led to restrained volume in single-tenant net lease (STNL) sales, with 2023 posting the weakest figures since 2012, and it's no wonder why," they wrote. "The 10-year Treasury peaked around 5% in October, while the [Federal Reserve] didn't announce its plans to pivot until December, resulting in restricted lending and a pullback in activity."

The dynamic is one of investors looking for something delivering old-time fixed-income style consistency of strong returns. That was something that had been missing for many years with long-term Fed monetary policy coming out of the Global Financial Crisis and then staying. Friday's 10-year Treasury yield of 4.22% was far off the 5% pace of last October, but still enough to make investors wonder why they'd bother with risk if they could still get significantly more than 4% without worry about major risk.