- August CRE sales volume reached $107B, including $70B of M&A-type transactions, according to MSCI.
- Excluding M&A, sales fell about 21% from a year earlier even as total volume jumped 127% on megadeals.
- Multifamily volume rose 402% on the AvalonBay-Equity Residential merger, while most other property sectors posted declines.
Bisnow reports that August CRE transaction totals looked much stronger than the underlying single-asset market. MSCI’s August commercial property sales analysis put total volume at $107B. Roughly $70B came from M&A-type sales. Megadeals pushed overall volume up 127% year-over-year. Sales excluding M&A, however, fell about 21%. That gap shows a much more measured pace for individual property trades.
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Megadeals Drive the Headline Number
August set a monthly record for M&A deal volume, according to MSCI. The largest contributor was the merger of AvalonBay Communities and Equity Residential. The combination created Vivmark Residential with an enterprise value around $70B. That single transaction lifted multifamily sales volume by 402% from a year earlier. M&A had already boosted July activity. BlackRock’s $33.7B acquisition of Aligned Data Centers helped total July sales reach $74.4B.
The Details
Performance across property types was mixed. Industrial sales increased 14% year-over-year to $11.5B. Senior housing rose 8%. Every other major asset class declined. Data centers recorded no asset trades in August. Hotel sales fell 45%. Office, retail, hotel, and development-site volumes all trailed the prior year. Prices were nearly flat. The RCA CPPI US National All-Property Index rose only 0.1% year-over-year. The average cap rate across August transactions was 6.01%, down 80 basis points from July.
Why It Matters
The M&A surge makes the market look more liquid than single-asset activity alone would suggest. Year-to-date sales volume is up 53% at $483B. A 221% increase in portfolio and entity-level deals drove much of that growth. Single-asset volume is up a more modest 12% through August. That gap echoes the slowdown in individual CRE transactions beneath headline megadeals. JPMorgan analysts said the late-quarter rise in rates had little time to disrupt deals already in motion. Elevated borrowing costs are instead slowing decisions as investors reset return requirements.
What’s Next
JPMorgan expects the shift in both short- and long-term rates to matter more in coming months. Multifamily may face the greatest risk. Cap rates in the sector are already relatively low, leaving less room for higher debt service. MSCI also described a highly liquid market where expansion in deal volume is slowing. The next test is whether portfolio and entity transactions keep supporting headline activity. Individual buyers and sellers still need to recalibrate financing, pricing, and return expectations. If that takes longer, the gap between megadeal volume and property-level trading could remain wide.
