2020 Net Lease Office Sales Volume and Cap Rates

Source: Stan Johnson Co. Research, Real Capital Analytics

The single-tenant net lease office market reported a tremendous amount of activity in 2019, shattering records to report more than $28.3 billion in transactions. But momentum hasn’t been sustainable due to COVID-19’s impact on the investment market. The net lease office sector has struggled in the last three months, posting the lowest quarterly sales totals since mid-year 2012. The sector’s first half totals, however, have been buoyed by a fairly strong first quarter, and more than $7.5 billion in sales have been reported year-to-date. This activity isn’t strong enough to compete with investment sales levels in recent years though, and the market is currently not even on pace to meet 2013 annual totals. Quarter-to-quarter, average cap rates for single-tenant net lease office product remained flat at 6.26 percent. Averages have been trending very slowly downward, and current levels have only adjusted 10 basis points in the last 15 months. The recent lack of movement may indicate that rates are at or near the bottom, but we’ll be watching the trend line closely in the coming quarters as the sector continues to be impacted by COVID-19.

Focusing on business development, industry and client-specific research, and the analysis of local and national market trends, Lanie Beck has been the Director of Research for Stan Johnson Co. since 2013.

—Posted on Oct. 26, 2020

Source: Stan Johnson Co. Research, Real Capital Analytics

Single-tenant office investments have been growing in popularity with net lease buyers in recent years, with annual investment sales activity exceeding $28.2 billion in 2019, which significantly outpaced the record set previously. Leading up to this banner year, the office market has had an incredibly strong showing, with nearly $120.0 billion in sales reported from 2015 to 2019, representing more than one-third of the total market’s activity during this time. Despite this positive momentum, we witnessed a drop-off in activity during early 2020 amid the health crisis. As investors pulled back and adopted a wait-and-see attitude, the net lease office market reported only $5.0 billion in sales during Q1 2020, which was the sector’s slowest quarter in 21 months. Average cap rates continued to compress, ending the quarter at 6.3 percent. As the trendline begins to flatten, dropping only two basis points since year-end, it is likely that we will see office cap rates officially bottom out sometime in 2020, although the impact from COVID-19 is still yet to be fully realized.

Focusing on business development, industry and client-specific research, and the analysis of local and national market trends, Lanie Beck has been the Director of Research for Stan Johnson Co. since 2013.

—Posted on Jul. 22, 2020