The Building Owners and Managers Association (BOMA) International’s 2026 Market Study: The Economic Impact of U.S. Commercial Real Estate notes significant changes reshaping commercial real estate in the U.S.

One of the most striking shifts is in office construction. Data centers, classified as private office construction in federal statistics, accounted for nearly 46% of U.S. office construction spending in 2025, up from less than 5% a decade ago. Traditional office construction, excluding data centers, totaled about $48.4 billion last year.

Industrial construction remains at historically high levels. Warehouse and manufacturing construction totaled about $274.2 billion in 2025. While that was down 7.9% from the previous year, investment remained more than twice its 2020 level and represented the third-highest annual total on record.

Retail construction totaled about $47.1 billion in 2025, with activity increasing during the first three months of 2026. In addition, the U.S. life sciences real estate market is normalizing following several years of rapid expansion.

The study also found that $274.9 billion in annual building operating expenditures generates $609.9 billion in total economic output. Building operations contribute $344.4 billion to U.S. GDP and $219.4 billion in personal earnings.