Multifamily Deals Lead Q3 CRE Investment Surge

Commercial real estate investors poured the most funds into multifamily assets in the third quarter, but another sector saw its investment level more than triple from 2024. 

The multifamily sector raked in just under $42 billion worth of investment, a 10 percent year-over-year spike, according to a new report from commercial real estate services firm CBRE.

The sector was also No. 1 in the third quarter of 2024, after drawing in $38 billion worth of investment. Overall, multifamily deals comprised more than 37 percent of commercial real estate investment deals in the third quarter of 2025.

But data centers, which in the third quarter drew in the smallest investment total of the commercial sectors with just $1.5 billion, saw their investment level surge 256 percent compared to the previous year. The jump was driven by a single $1.2 billion transaction, per the report.

In total, commercial real estate investment climbed 12.6 percent year over year to $112.1 billion. Just two sectors, industrial and hotels, saw their investment levels drop during this time frame, by 1.6 percent and 14.1 percent, respectively.

Over the trailing four quarters, commercial real estate investment volume hit $446 billion, which was the highest total in two years. It’s also 21 percent higher than last year.

The Greater New York region and the Greater Los Angeles areas were first and second in terms of investment growth over the past year. New York raked in 44.5 percent more deals than Los Angeles’ 8.2 percent.

The growth in New York was led by the office sector, which drew in $13.8 billion worth of investment — more than 74 percent more than the same time last year. As for L.A., its retail sector is booming, notching almost 53 percent growth year over year.

Meanwhile, the two markets that saw commercial real estate investment fall year over year were Philadelphia’s 12.1 percent plunge, and Atlanta, where the amount fell by 2.6 percent.