Altus Group Limited, a provider of commercial real estate (CRE) data, released its CRE Investment & Transactions Quarterly Report, covering U.S. transaction activity for Q2 2025.
In the second quarter of 2025, the U.S. commercial real estate market recorded $115 billion in dollar value transacted, up 3.8% compared to $110.8 billion in Q2 2024, led by gains in multifamily and office transactions. The increase reflects growing confidence in larger transactions as decision making accelerated in Q2. The number of properties transacted nationally decreased by 7.4% compared to Q2 2024; however, office and industrial sectors outperformed the national figure on an annual basis.
According to CRE Daily, these numbers surpassed the 8% average growth that many forecasted for Q2 capital markets revenue.
“In Q2 we saw strong gains in multifamily and office transactions, which together accounted for nearly half of all transaction volume in the quarter,” said Cole Perry, Associate Director of Research at Altus Group. “On a quarterly basis, 13 of 15 property subtypes saw increases in median price-per-square foot, and on an annual basis, median price-per-square foot rose 13.9%.”
Altus Group’s report offers a comprehensive overview of national commercial sale transactions across major property sectors, focusing on transaction volume, pricing, and pacing, with further insights by property subtype and at the metropolitan statistical area (MSA) level.
Key Q2 CRE Takeaways
The CRE Investment & Transactions Quarterly Report found:
- Aggregate transaction volume totaled $115 billion in Q2 2025, up 3.8% from Q2 2024, driven by strong gains in multifamily (+39.5% from Q2 2024) and office (+11.8% from Q2 2024), which together accounted for 44.1% of all transaction volume in the quarter.
- Through Q2 2025, 41,463 properties transacted, representing a 7.4% decline from Q2 2024, the year-on-year drop was not evenly distributed across sectors, with the number of traded multifamily properties falling 9.2% and the number of traded office properties declining 5.2%.
- Nearly all major coastal metros outperformed national trends on an annual basis, though New York and San Francisco were notable exceptions, underperforming by up to 10% relative to the national change.
- The average number of properties transacted per day in Q2 2025 increased across all property types, when compared to Q1 2025. However, all sectors remained at or below the pre-pandemic historical average.
- Manufacturing was the only subsector to post declines in median price per square foot on both a quarterly (-3.3%) and annual (-14.6%) basis.
Major Gains in CRE Origination Volume
The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) reported that commercial and multifamily mortgage loan originations were 66% higher in Q2 of 2025, compared to a year earlier, and increased 48% from the first quarter of 2025, according to the association’s Quarterly Survey of Commercial/Multifamily Mortgage Bankers Originations.
“Commercial and multifamily borrowing gained significant momentum in the second quarter of 2025, with strong increases across most property types and capital sources,” said Reggie Booker, MBA’s Associate VP of Commercial Research. “While multifamily and hotel lending remain below last year’s levels, much of the strong annual growth reflects the exceptionally low levels of activity reported last year. Lending by depositories more than doubled, and originations by investor-driven lenders surged by over 90%, highlighting renewed interest from both traditional institutions and private capital.”
Year-over-year, the rise in originations for office, healthcare, and industrial properties led to an overall increase in commercial/multifamily lending volumes. There was a 140% year-over-year increase in the dollar volume of loans for office properties, a 77% increase for healthcare properties, a 53% increase for industrial properties, and a 30% increase for retail properties. Originations for multifamily properties decreased 35%, and hotel property loan originations decreased 30% compared to Q2 of 2024.
Among investor types, the MBA reports that dollar volume of loans originated for depositories increased by 108% year-over-year. There was a 93% increase in loans for investor-driven lenders, a 72% increase in loans for life insurance companies, a 59% increase in government sponsored enterprises (GSEs–Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac) loans, and a 10% decrease in commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) loans.
And on a quarterly basis, the MBA reported Q2 originations for industrial properties increased 102% compared to Q1of 2025. There was a 90% increase in originations for healthcare properties, a 58% increase for retail properties, and originations for hotel properties were unchanged compared to Q1 of 2025. Originations for office properties decreased 18%, and multifamily originations decreased 41%, compared to Q1 of 2025.
Among investor types, between Q1 and Q2 of 2025, the dollar volume of loans for investor-driven lenders increased 107%, loans for life insurance companies increased 71%, originations for GSEs increased 54%, and loans for depositories increased 36%, while the dollar volume of loans for CMBS decreased by 20%.
Click here for more on the Altus Group Limited CRE Investment & Transactions Quarterly Report.
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