U.S. property sales volume increases in first half 2014

Sales of individual properties rose 18 percent in the first half of the year, while portfolio transactions increased by 48 percent, according to Real Capital Analytics’ 2014 Mid-Year Review.

For the first half of the year, transaction volume totaled $184.1 billion, up 23 percent year on year and just below levels achieved in 2006. Retail property sales volume was up 57 percent, well above all other property types. The only sector to register a decline was the apartment sector, and that was due solely to major portfolios inflating the year-ago comparison.

Manhattan was the number one market, totaling $17.2 billion in transactions, an 8 percent change from a year previously. Two assets in Manhattan — Five Time Square and Times Warner Center — were the highest priced transactions in the country during the first half of 2014, selling for $1.47 billion and $1.303 billion, respecti