Henry Chin, global head of research at CBRE, joined the latest episode of the REIT Report podcast to review key themes for commercial real estate investing in 2026. Chin highlighted strong investor sentiment towards the sector, an expected increase in investment activity, the dynamics of supply and demand across various property types, and more.

Chin said investors are expected to deploy capital into U.S. real estate markets this year on the back of recovering fundamentals and interest rates trending lower. As a result, investment volume is expected to increase by about 16%, he noted.

Additional observations during the interview included:

Total returns this year will be income-driven rather than appreciation-driven. “We are only going to see some strong capital value gain when the 10-year Treasury is trending down below 4%, but as of now, most of the total returns are driven by the income growth.”