Returns for institutional real estate investors remained steady at about a 7% annual return through the first quarter of 2018. The total return was 1.70% in the first quarter, down slightly from 1.80% last quarter, but up slightly from the 1st quarter of 2017 as seen in the chart below. These are the national returns from the NCREIF Property Index (NPI). The NPI reflects investment performance for 7,553 commercial properties, totaling $567 billion of market value held by large institutional investors in the US.
