The impact of the pandemic was not felt evenly across the county as multifamily transactions in 2020 were down and sales plunged in due to COVID-19, according to a new report from Yardi Matrix, after record multifamily transaction volume in 2019.

A few summary points from the report:

• Much of the change could be described as a “filtering” effect: investors moving from urban cores to inner-ring suburbs, from primary to secondary metros and from secondary to tertiary metros. This phenomenon results from several factors, including owners putting fewer properties on the market, disagreement between buyers and sellers about prices, the composition of buyers, and the competition for assets.
• Sales recovered in the third quarter after hitting a trough in 2Q20, but like so much about the economy, a return to “normal” transaction activity is hard to predict. Until the pandemic recedes and people can return to daily activities with the help of an effective vaccine, uncertainty will linger.
• Despite worrying economic signals—S. unemployment numbers remain high, gateway-market occupancy rates and rents have plummeted, and December rent payment data shows more tenants not making payments—multifamily fundamentals have held up better than in other commercial property segments, and loan delinquencies remain low.