Your One-Stop Shop For End-Of-Year Recaps And 2026 Predictions
We can let out a collective sigh — we made it to see the end of 2025.
For the most part.
With the economy being rewritten in real time, banks making an unexpected leap back into the industry and the deals that sent shockwaves throughout CRE, so much happened in 2025 that the industry was struggling to keep its arms and legs inside of the ride at all times.
Before you take a breather and reset for a new year, refresh your memory on all that made our heads spin, from the championed moves to the moments we'd rather forget. And then, take a look at what's being forecasted for 2026 — hopefully, the year commercial real estate finally, finally finds its footing again.
National
12 Deals And Trends That Defined 2025
2025 was a real roller coaster for CRE. The industry was whipped around by tariffs and a new president rapidly rewriting policy. There were flat stretches — periods of being unable to build or buy and steeling against a looming cliff of maturities. But in the end, there was the exhilaration of three interest rate cuts and the beginning of deal recovery.
Lending is resurging. Tenants are making decisions again. Sales are closing, even of office buildings, resetting valuations brick by painful brick.
Uncertainty was one defining word of 2025. But there’s another: resilience. CRE kept putting one foot in front of the other this year and may have finally plodded through the trough of the market.
Grading 2025 Predictions: What CRE Got Right And Wrong This Year
“Uncertainty” may have been the word of the year for the CRE industry and the wider business community.
Few could have predicted how quickly and completely the second Trump administration would reshape the economy, or how often the administration’s priorities would change, especially when it came to tariff policy.
Given this, one would assume that predictions made in December 2024 for what was to come for commercial real estate in 2025 may now be hopelessly antiquated.
However, CRE professionals who shared their 2025 predictions with Bisnow were able to read the tea leaves accurately when it came to office vacancy recovery, increased investment in CRE and data center growth.
The 12 Bisnow Stories Readers Loved Best In 2025
CRE was all about the pain this year, apparently.
Bisnow’s list of most-clicked stories in 2025 is filled with bankruptcies, layoffs, frozen capital and a frozen government.
Want to feel really good at the prospect of a better 2026? Take a trip down memory lane with us.
Finance And Technology Companies Dominate 2025's 7 Biggest Office Leases In The U.S.
There are a few things that are certain in the world outside of death and taxes: finance and insurance as well as technology companies accounting for the biggest chunks of office leasing in any given year.
Tenants from these sectors accounted for half of 2025's large office leasing volume in the nation’s biggest markets, according to data provided to Bisnow by Colliers.
2025 Was The Year Of The Office Haircut, But The Pain May Bring Gain
Office buildings finally started trading hands this year after a long dry spell brought on by elevated interest rates and a gaping gulch between buyer and seller price expectations.
While thousands of office sales in some of the country’s hardest-hit markets were welcomed as a sign that a long-awaited rebound might finally be on the way, the sales also represented sometimes bone-deep discounts for sellers trying to offload underperforming assets. As 2025 draws to a close, however, the tide might be turning.
Local
10 Stories That Defined Atlanta CRE In 2025
Atlanta’s commercial real estate sector got unusually political this year.
Between data center blowback and immigration raids, the CRE community often found itself factoring the day’s headlines into future plans.
Atlanta’s CRE scene was also full of intrigue, with a disgraced investor sentenced for embezzling millions to gain a piece of the Buckhead office market and a mystery developer touting an audacious plan for a Downtown Atlanta mixed-use development.
Here are the 10 stories that shaped Atlanta’s commercial real estate market in 2025.
