Document Type
Research Memorandum
Publication Date
2026
Abstract
(Excerpt)
Since the COVID-19 pandemic of 2020, the Commercial Real Estate (CRE) Market, which is the fourth-largest asset market in the US, has faced high uncertainty. Many workers were either unemployed or working from home, and many consumers were forced to shop online instead of visiting traditional brick-and-mortar storefronts. These market shifts significantly impacted Commercial Real Estate Companies (CRECs), as high vacancy rates were observed in corporate offices, and many retailers struggled to attract customers to their stores.
Although five years have passed since the pandemic, many CRECs are still struggling to recover from COVID-19’s lasting impact on the economy. Many companies have shifted back to an in-office work structure, but office vacancies are still at a higher rate than they were before 2020. Shoppers are increasingly drawn to online shopping, and workers have favored remote work models over in-person positions, trends that became normalized during the pandemic. These changes, paired with high interest rates and maturing loans, have made the market highly vulnerable to bankruptcy.