Runway clear for commercial real estate

Here's a good sign investors are true believers in the commercial real estate recovery: More capital is flowing into the markets.

That's a key takeaway from the third quarter National Real Estate Investor/Marcus & Millichap Investor Sentiment Survey. A majority of respondents, 70%, say they will increase their commercial real estate holdings over the next 12 months. An additional 24% expect investments to remain the same, while only 4% of respondents expect their real estate portfolio to decrease over the next year.

The 70% figure is a big jump from the 2014 first quarter survey, when 59% of respondents indicated they planned to increase their commercial real estate portfolio. “That is a profound statement,” says Hessam Nadji, Marcus & Millichap chief strategy officer and director of specialty groups, in a statement. “The message from the survey is that once again commercial real estate has plenty of runway.”