News

CARLSBAD, CA (April 24, 2018)—Real Capital Markets (RCM), the global marketplace for commercial real estate investments, announced today that industry professionals have leveraged the firm’s technology platform to transact over $2 trillion in commercial property online. The milestone, based on first quarter figures released by the firm, demonstrates the power technological innovation has had in commercial real estate over the past 20 years.

“We are proud to have achieved this significant milestone, providing CRE tech solutions to our clients for nearly 20 years,” said Tina Lichens, Chief Operating Officer, Real Capital Markets. “This highlights the increasingly important role technology and innovation play in our industry.” 

To put the $2 trillion number in perspective it is equivalent to the purchase of 1,538 Willis Towers in Chicago or 1,058 Empire State Buildings in New York.

Since the company was founded in 1999 and launched its innovative platform—with the listing of a multifamily property for Fairfield Residential (still a client of RCM’s today, 19 years later)—RCM’s technology has been involved in bringing more than 60,000 properties and loans to market to a database that now exceeds 58,000 investors across the Globe.

Of the more than 60,000 properties that comprise the $2 trillion in transaction volume spanning across all CRE asset types, the most common types of properties brought to market using the RCM platform are office, multifamily and retail properties. Office property listings make up approximately 25 percent of the listings, followed by multifamily, approximately 22 percent, retail, approximately 18 percent, and industrial, 12 percent.

However, those historic numbers don’t tell the complete story –  for RCM or the industry as a whole. For much of the last 19 years—before e-commerce began to dramatically change the dynamics of the commercial real estate market—the appetite for industrial property simply did not compare to office, multifamily and retail offerings.

We have begun to see a dramatic shift. Industrial deals are increasingly more popular and account for a larger percentage of listings on the RCM platform. This fact is underscored by findings in RCM’s 2018 National Investor Sentiment Report where industrial real estate was characterized by 33 percent of study participants, second only behind multifamily, to be the sector of commercial real estate offering the greatest opportunity in 2018.

“It is interesting to see how market dynamics change over time,” said Steve Shanahan, Executive Managing Director, Real Capital Markets. “Industrial real estate has increased in prominence and popularity with the growing importance of e-commerce related businesses—a trend not likely to subside as sellers look to capitalize on that strong interest.” 

On a geographical comparison, almost 59 percent of the U.S. properties brought to market with the RCM platform since 1999 were located in the West and Southeast regions. The Western region accounts for more than 34 percent of the listings while the Southeast represents approximately 25 percent.

The geographic breakdown of listings, for the Western and Southeastern regions is in keeping with what investors described as their most sought-after locations in RCM’s 2018 National Investor Sentiment Report. In that study, investors said they were most interested in property opportunities in the Southern, approximately 38 percent, and Western, approximately 32 percent, regions.

“Just as preferred property type investments will fluctuate with general business and economic cycles, geographic preferences may shift with things like population and employment trends,” Shanahan said.

According to Lichens, RCM’s commitment to its clients and continuous innovation allows the firm to not only keep up with the changes in the industry, but to provide the best products and services for the future of CRE technology.

“This milestone demonstrates that RCM is able to distinguish between the flash and the hype and the true solutions,” she added. “We’ve established a proven and well-documented track record of solving problems, creating efficiencies as well as addressing client issues and concerns; the $2 trillion milestone further validates that.”

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About Real Capital Markets:
Founded in 1999, Real Capital Markets (RCM) is the global marketplace for buying and selling CRE. RCM increases the speed, exposure, and security of CRE sales through its streamlined online platform. Solutions include integrated property marketing, transaction management, and business intelligence tools to unify broker-level and firm-level data and work flows. RCM has executed 60,000+ assignments with $2.0 trillion in CRE transactions. Over 50% of all U.S. commercial assets sold, over $10 million, are brought to market using RCM’s online marketplace annually. 

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