Population Growth Fuels CRE Performance: Top 3 Bottom 3 Metros 2Q 2025

Spanning from the East Coast to the Southwest, SitusAMC’s Top 3 metros got a lift from demographics, with population inflows boosting total returns and gains across all property segments. Meanwhile, our Bottom 3 metros, all situated on the West Coast, saw total returns at least 70 bps below the national average, dragged down by industrial performance. SitusAMC’s Top 3 Bottom 3 Metros proprietary analysis is based on the weighted average of NCREIF Classic NPI total returns across the main commercial real estate (CRE) sectors in 2Q 2025. We include metros that comprise at least 0.5% of the total US CRE market, which resulted in 38 metros in the second quarter. 

Explore all of the winning and losing metros in our slideshow below. (Click the bottom link for a full-screen version.)  

For additional market commentary, SitusAMC Insights offers automated tear sheets, which provide brief but comprehensive, information on market and submarket economics and demographics, property-type fundamentals and forecasts and RERC and other capital markets data. Contact Peter Muoio, PhD, Senior Director of SitusAMC Insights, at petermuoio@situsamc.com for more information. To explore all SitusAMC’s research and data offerings, visit our website.