Commercial real estate can be an extremely lucrative industry for those who know how to spot the right opportunities. However, finding those hidden gems requires in-depth market research and analysis. By utilizing the best resources available, commercial real estate investors can gain the insights needed to make smart, calculated moves in any market conditions.

This article will provide an overview of 10 invaluable resources for conducting thorough commercial real estate market research and analysis. Whether you’re just starting or looking to expand your existing portfolio, these resources can help you master critical research skills and outperform the competition.

Mastering Commercial Real Estate Market Research: 10 In-Depth Resources for Success

1. CoStar

CoStar is one of the most widely used commercial real estate information services, providing data on over 5 million commercial properties across the United States. Their database includes information on tenants, sales comparables, lease rates, vacancies, new construction, and more.

Users can search for properties by location, building type, square footage, and other parameters. For each property, CoStar provides historical and current data on rents, sales, vacancy rates, operating expenses, and tenant rosters. The service also provides analytical tools for comparing different markets and submarkets.

With its comprehensive, in-depth data, CoStar is an essential first stop for commercial real estate market research. Investors can quickly gather key property metrics and local market trends to identify promising assets and locations.

2. Real Capital Analytics (RCA)

While CoStar focuses on individual property data, RCA provides insights on macro-level commercial real estate investment trends. RCA tracks property sales, lending activity, and pricing data across all major asset classes in the United States, UK, and Asia Pacific.

RCA’s commercial real estate indices and analytics enable investors to spot emerging trends and opportunities. Users can analyze sales and pricing data by region and asset type. RCA also produces research reports on capital flows, distressed properties, and other important topics.

For larger portfolio investors and fund managers, RCA offers invaluable market intelligence for devising investment strategies. The data assists with analyzing supply/demand imbalances, capital availability shifts, bubble risk factors, and more.

3. CBRE Market Reports

CBRE Group is the world’s largest commercial real estate services firm, managing over 6 billion square feet of property around the globe. The company produces in-depth quarterly and annual research reports on major commercial real estate markets in the Americas, Europe, the Middle East, and Asia Pacific.

These reports analyze recent leasing and investment activity by sector while providing projections for rents, vacancies, inventory growth, and other key performance metrics. The insights help investors identify potential opportunities and mispricings in specific areas or asset classes.

Although the reports focus heavily on the largest gateway cities, CBRE still offers the most comprehensive commercial market research worldwide. Investors operating across multiple regions will benefit greatly from these globally-focused reports.

4. Newmark Local Market Reports

For more localized data, Newmark’s quarterly and annual market reports provide detailed statistics on around 80 U.S. metro areas. The reports summarize recent leasing and sales activity for the office, industrial, multifamily, and retail sectors while projecting future rent growth and inventory pipelines.

Investors focused on a particular city or region can leverage these hyper-local reports to understand recent performance and supply/demand dynamics. The market-by-market insights assist with uncovering specific pockets of opportunity to target acquisitions and development.

5. Trepp

Commercial real estate investors rely heavily on debt financing, making it crucial to research lending market conditions. Trepp provides data, analytics, and forecasting for commercial real estate loans and CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities).

The TreppWire platform tracks origination volumes, risk metrics, delinquencies, and loss severity rates for all major lender types. Users can find historical data on specific originators, geographic markets, and asset categories. Trepp’s CMBS analytics provide loan-level financial data along with ratings and surveillance.

For deal underwriting and overall market analysis, Trepp delivers the intelligence needed to manage lending relationships and credit risk exposure. Signs of tightening credit or increased distress can impact investment strategies.

6. Axiometrics

Axiometrics focuses specifically on the U.S. multifamily housing sector, providing data and analytics on all apartment building types. Their database covers over 11 million units across the 50 largest metro areas.

Investors can access historical and projected data points like rental rates, concessions, occupancy, leasing velocity, and rent growth. The platform also allows users to define custom market areas and submarkets for analysis.

For developers and acquirers of multifamily assets, these granular, geocoded insights are invaluable. Researching the competitive landscape for specific development sites or locating pockets of opportunity within metro areas becomes more efficient.

7. PropertyShark

PropertyShark aggregates public record data on 150+ million commercial and residential properties across the U.S. Users can search, map, and analyze property sales, ownership transfers, loans, foreclosures, and other transactions.

The platform provides visibility into ownership structures, lien status, and distressed property signals. Investors can use these ownership insights to identify potential off-market acquisition opportunities, troubled assets, and more.

PropertyShark also offers robust mapping features to visualize property data, sales activity, and development pipelines down to the neighborhood level. These geographic analytics help spot emerging investment pockets.

8. Real Estate Focused Publications

Industry news publications and real estate blogs provide useful perspectives on markets and assets. While not hard investment data, these information sources give valuable boots-on-the-ground insights, expert interviews, and trend analyses.

Top real estate publications and blogs include The Real Deal, GlobeSt, Commercial Observer, Bisnow, and Commercial Property Executive. Local publications like SF Business Times also cover key markets. Subscribing to email newsletters and alerts delivers relevant news coverage directly.

Reviewing different angles and narratives around market conditions provides helpful qualitative context alongside quantitative data. Publications can also highlight new construction projects and investment sales before they hit listing platforms.

9. Municipal Data Portals

For research at the metro or neighborhood level, municipal data portals contain a wealth of property insights. Most major cities provide public data platforms with geographic mapping capabilities.

Investors can find granular data layers on zoning, new construction sites, building footprints, active development applications, ownership, and more. The portals allow users to analyze trends and identify opportunities within specific submarkets or sites.

Examples of these open data resources include NYC OpenData, BostonMaps, and DallasOpenData. Consult each city’s open data portal to find available property datasets.

10. Commercial Real Estate Broker Listings

Despite technological advances, experienced brokers still provide value through their on-the-ground perspectives and access to upcoming listings. Maintaining contacts across brokerages gives investors early notice of properties coming to market.

Major commercial listing hubs like LoopNet and Crexi provide some visibility into new exclusives. But brokers also share listings and whisper listings via email before widely marketing properties.

Building relationships with brokers in your target markets takes time but can provide that slight edge needed to find hidden gems. Brokers may also share insights on buyer/seller motivations, negotiating leverage, and property issues.

Key Takeaways for Commercial Real Estate Market Research

Utilize data services like CoStar and RCA to analyze property metrics, local trends, and macro-level capital flows.
Read market research reports from leading firms like CBRE, Newmark, Trepp, and Axiometrics.
Leverage municipal open data portals for granular neighborhood and submarket insights.
Subscribe to industry news publications for real-time expert perspectives on market conditions.
Cultivate relationships with listing brokers to gain early access to upcoming inventory.

Thorough market research combines both quantitative data and qualitative insights from industry experts. By tapping into these comprehensive resources, commercial real estate investors can make smart decisions backed by hard evidence, projected trends, and an in-depth understanding of local market dynamics.

Continuous analysis is also crucial as asset valuations and risk factors evolve. Performing rigorous due diligence across market cycles and utilizing the best intelligence available gives investors the upper hand in any economic condition.

With millions of dollars and years invested in commercial properties, skimping on upfront research is never advisable. By taking advantage of these 10 resources and recommendations, investors can confidently commit capital based on meticulous data gathering and forecasting. The result is a resilient portfolio poised to deliver strong risk-adjusted returns over the long run.