France Media 2026 Forecast Survey for Brokers

Welcome to Our Annual Forecast Survey

Dear Commercial Real Estate Broker,

As 2025 draws to a close, the industry faces a variety of challenges, including uncertainty over the economy and the trajectory of interest rates, looming loan maturities, oversupply in market-rate apartments in certain markets, a shortage of affordable housing, and the ongoing transformation of the office sector due to the hybrid work model, to name a few.

At the same time, investor demand is robust, particularly for property types where the real estate fundamentals continue to improve such as industrial, certain segments of retail and seniors housing.

Against that backdrop, the editors of France Media are conducting a brief online survey to assess the commercial real estate outlook for the coming year. We welcome your participation in our 15th annual forecast survey, which should only take a few minutes to complete. The questions focus on your company's business specialty, trends in deal volume, anticipated movement in interest rates, and property sectors that you are most bullish on heading into 2026.

We’re also sending separate surveys to finance professionals as well as developers, owners and managers. The results will be compiled and published in the January issues of each of our regional magazines. Conducting these surveys is part of our mission at France Media to provide readers with indispensable information, and we couldn't do it without your help.

(Note: Please remember to click on "done" to properly submit the survey.)

Sincerely,

Matt Valley
Editorial Director, Real Estate Regionals
France Media, Inc.

Question Title

* 1. In which region of the country do you personally conduct most of your business? (Answer required to allow France Media to place responses in the appropriate regional publication.)

Southeast (Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia, West Virginia and Washington, D.C.)

Northeast (Connecticut, Delaware, Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island and Vermont)

Midwest (Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, Ohio, South Dakota and Wisconsin)

Western U.S. (Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Dakota, Oregon, Utah, Washington and Wyoming)

Texas and Oklahoma

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* 2. Which of the following best describes your company? (Please mark all that apply)

Global Brokerage Company

National Brokerage Company

Regional Brokerage Company

Local Brokerage Firm

Full-Service Real Estate Firm

Tenant Representation Firm

Landlord Representation Firm

Other (please specify)

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* 3. Check the box that best describes your job title:

President, Owner, Partner, Chairman of the Board, CEO

Chief Financial Officer, Chief Investment Officer

Real Estate Manager, Other Manager, including General Manager

Broker, Leasing Agent, Real Estate Agent

Other (please specify)

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* 4. Which property sector(s) do you specialize in? (Please mark all that apply)

Hotel

Industrial

Multifamily

Office

Retail

Mixed-use

Other (please specify)

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* 5. Do you expect your firm’s total transaction volume by dollar amount (leasing and investment sales combined) in 2026 to be higher, lower or the same as in 2025?

Higher

Lower

Approximately the same

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* 6. If you answered "higher" to the previous question, by how much?

Less than 5%

5% to 10%

11% to 15%

16% to 20%

More than 20%

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* 7. If you answered "lower" to the previous question, by how much?

Less than 5%

5% to 10%

11% to 15%

16% to 20%

More than 20%

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* 8. Generally speaking, which property sector(s) do you think will experience a high velocity of sales activity in 2026? (multiple answers allowed)

Hotel

Industrial

Multifamily

Office

Retail

Mixed-use

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 9. Generally speaking, which property sector(s) do you think will experience a low velocity of sales activity in 2026? (multiple answers allowed)

Hotel

Industrial

Multifamily

Office

Retail

Mixed-use

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 10. In your view, which property sector(s) will experience the greatest increase in valuations over the next 12 months?

Hotel

Industrial

Multifamily

Office

Retail

Mixed-use

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 11. Do you expect interest rates to increase, decrease or remain relatively unchanged during the next 12 months?

Increase

Decrease

Remain relatively unchanged

Uncertain

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* 12. What is your best guess as to where the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield will stand at the end of 2026?

6.0% or higher

5.5%

5.0%

4.5%

4.0%

3.5%

3.0%

2.5%

2.0%

1.5% or lower

Uncertain

Question Title

* 13. To what degree will inflation, which has moderated but remains at an elevated level, have an impact on the commercial real estate industry over the next 12 to 18 months?

Significant positive impact

Some positive impact

Significant negative impact

Some negative impact

No impact

Uncertain

Question Title

* 14. Do the benefits of tariffs (protecting industries and jobs and increasing government revenue) outweigh the costs (higher consumer prices, potential retaliation from other countries, general uncertainty) from a commercial real estate perspective?

Benefits significantly outweigh costs

Benefits somewhat outweigh costs

Benefits and costs are about equal

Costs somewhat outweigh benefits

Costs significantly outweigh benefits

Uncertain

Question Title

* 15. To what extent has the recent government shutdown indirectly affected commercial real estate lending transactions involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that have remained operational and do not rely on federal funding?

No impact

Minimal impact

Significant impact

Uncertain

Question Title

* 16. How do you expect office utilization in your market to trend over the next 12–18 months?

Increase significantly

Increase moderately

Remain roughly the same

Decrease moderately

Decrease significantly

Too early to tell

Question Title

* 17. Among the following property types, how do you think the volume of distressed properties in 2026 will compare to 2025?

	Increase significantly	Increase somewhat	Remain the same	Decrease somewhat	Decrease significantly	Uncertain
Industrial	Industrial Increase significantly	Industrial Increase somewhat	Industrial Remain the same	Industrial Decrease somewhat	Industrial Decrease significantly	Industrial Uncertain
Multifamily	Multifamily Increase significantly	Multifamily Increase somewhat	Multifamily Remain the same	Multifamily Decrease somewhat	Multifamily Decrease significantly	Multifamily Uncertain
Office	Office Increase significantly	Office Increase somewhat	Office Remain the same	Office Decrease somewhat	Office Decrease significantly	Office Uncertain
Retail	Retail Increase significantly	Retail Increase somewhat	Retail Remain the same	Retail Decrease somewhat	Retail Decrease significantly	Retail Uncertain

Question Title

* 18. Of all the potential factors, which do you think will affect the commercial real estate industry the most in 2026?

Interest rates

Inflation

GDP/job growth

U.S national debt

Geopolitical risk

U.S. political climate

Tariffs

Rapidly changing technology

Labor availability/talent recruitment

Other (please specify)

Question Title

* 19. The Fed lowered its benchmark interest rate by 25 basis points in September and another 25 basis points in October. How will this affect borrowers and lenders in the short run? (Please type in your comments here and include your name, job title, company name, phone number and email address so that we may follow up with you for additional information and/or attribute quotes to you if we include your comment in the article. You can also leave an anonymous comment.)

Question Title

* 20. What do you see as the greatest opportunity and/or challenge for the commercial real estate industry in 2026? (Please type in your comments here and include your name, job title, company name, phone number and email address so that we may follow up with you for additional information and/or attribute quotes to you if we include your comment in the article. You can also leave an anonymous comment.)

Question Title

* 21. Can we reach out to you as a potential source for our follow-up analysis article of the survey results?

Yes

Question Title

* 1. In which region of the country do you personally conduct most of your business? (Answer required to allow France Media to place responses in the appropriate regional publication.)

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* 2. Which of the following best describes your company? (Please mark all that apply)

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* 3. Check the box that best describes your job title:

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* 4. Which property sector(s) do you specialize in? (Please mark all that apply)

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* 5. Do you expect your firm’s total transaction volume by dollar amount (leasing and investment sales combined) in 2026 to be higher, lower or the same as in 2025?

Question Title

* 6. If you answered "higher" to the previous question, by how much?

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* 7. If you answered "lower" to the previous question, by how much?

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* 8. Generally speaking, which property sector(s) do you think will experience a high velocity of sales activity in 2026? (multiple answers allowed)

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* 9. Generally speaking, which property sector(s) do you think will experience a low velocity of sales activity in 2026? (multiple answers allowed)

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* 10. In your view, which property sector(s) will experience the greatest increase in valuations over the next 12 months?

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* 11. Do you expect interest rates to increase, decrease or remain relatively unchanged during the next 12 months?

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* 12. What is your best guess as to where the U.S. 10-year Treasury yield will stand at the end of 2026?

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* 13. To what degree will inflation, which has moderated but remains at an elevated level, have an impact on the commercial real estate industry over the next 12 to 18 months?

Question Title

* 14. Do the benefits of tariffs (protecting industries and jobs and increasing government revenue) outweigh the costs (higher consumer prices, potential retaliation from other countries, general uncertainty) from a commercial real estate perspective?

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* 15. To what extent has the recent government shutdown indirectly affected commercial real estate lending transactions involving Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that have remained operational and do not rely on federal funding?

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* 16. How do you expect office utilization in your market to trend over the next 12–18 months?

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* 17. Among the following property types, how do you think the volume of distressed properties in 2026 will compare to 2025?

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* 18. Of all the potential factors, which do you think will affect the commercial real estate industry the most in 2026?

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* 21. Can we reach out to you as a potential source for our follow-up analysis article of the survey results?

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* 22. If yes, please provide your name, job title, company and email address in the below text box.