COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE'S ECONOMIC ADVISORS

A monthly summary of commercial real estate insights and analysis from Chandan Economics and our partners.

June 2025 was marked by an acute rise in geopolitical tensions and Congress's efforts to advance President Trump's tax and spending bill. Nonetheless, critical signals from the US housing market and renewed concerns around risks to commercial property debt drew heightened scrutiny from CRE investors.

In this deep dive, we identify which US metro areas are best positioned for robust rent growth over the next year.

The advent of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) and looming budget cuts cast a cloud of uncertainty over local real estate markets that rely heavily on demand from federal employees.

On-time rental payments in independently operated units dropped meaningfully in June 2025 — offering a stark warning about the financial health of renter households in a high-uncertainty economic environment.

On-time rental payments in units operated by independent landlords continued their recent trend line of improvement in April.

This is the second consecutive year that WFH rentals have dipped, following the peak of 5.0 million households in 2021.

Utah (11.6%), Alaska (10.2%), and Iowa (10.1%) maintain the highest proportion of U35 homeowners as a share of all households in the nation.