United States · Net lease · Q2 2026
Single-tenant net lease cap rates — Q2 2026
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Key findings
- Retail 6.60% · industrial 7.25% · office 7.90%. Simple three-sector average 6.82%, computed by C3 CRE.
- Office carries a 130 basis point premium to retail — a re-leasing risk premium, not a yield opportunity.
- National medians are a starting point for a Michigan or Tampa underwrite, not an answer.
The short answer
National single-tenant net lease cap rates in Q2 2026 were 6.60% for retail, 7.25% for industrial and 7.90% for office, and a simple unweighted average of those three sectors of 6.82% — computed by C3 CRE, not published by The Boulder Group. These are national asking medians; Michigan and Tampa Bay product trades around them by asset quality and lease term, not by geography alone.
Summary
Key findings
- Retail 6.60% · industrial 7.25% · office 7.90%. Simple three-sector average 6.82%, computed by C3 CRE.
- Office carries a 130 basis point premium to retail — a re-leasing risk premium, not a yield opportunity.
- National medians are a starting point for a Michigan or Tampa underwrite, not an answer.
The Q2 2026 figures
- 6.60%
- Retail
- 7.25%
- Industrial
- 7.90%
- Office
- 6.82%
- Blended (C3 computed)
The Boulder Group · as of
The Boulder Group · as of
The Boulder Group · as of
Unweighted average of the three published sector rates
The Boulder Group · as of
The Boulder Group's Net Lease Market Report for Q2 2026 records national single-tenant asking cap rates of 6.60% for retail, 7.25% for industrial and 7.90% for office. The 6.82% blended figure quoted on this page is C3 CRE's simple unweighted average of those three sector rates, not a published Boulder Group metric.
Those are Boulder's figures, published nationally. Our contribution is what they mean for a buyer transacting in Michigan or Tampa Bay.
Single-tenant net lease asking cap rates, Q2 2026
| Sector | Asking cap rate | Spread to blended |
|---|---|---|
| Retail | 6.60% | −22 bps |
| Industrial | 7.25% | +43 bps |
| Office | 7.90% | +108 bps |
| Blended — C3 computed, unweighted average | 6.82% | — |
Source: The Boulder Group — Net Lease Market Report, Q2 2026 · Figures as of
C3's interpretation
C3's read: what a national median does and does not tell a 1031 buyer
This section is C3 CRE's own read. It is not a restatement of any third party's report, and it is the part we are accountable for.
The 130 basis point spread between net-lease office at 7.90% and net-lease retail at 6.60% is not free yield. It is the market pricing the probability that you will be re-leasing an office building at the end of the term into a Detroit market carrying 19.4% vacancy. Buy the spread only if you can carry the re-lease.
A national asking median is a poor proxy for a specific Michigan asset. What actually moves the trade is credit quality, remaining term, rent-to-market position and whether the landlord has any structural obligation left. A twelve-year corporate-guaranteed lease with 2% annual bumps and a genuinely below-market rent trades inside the national median regardless of where it sits.
Rent-to-market is the underwriting item most 1031 buyers skip under time pressure. A 6.60% cap on a rent 30% above market is not a 6.60% investment — it is a bet on renewal at a rent the tenant will not pay. We check that first, before the cap rate conversation.
Industrial at 7.25% is the most defensible of the three in our markets, because Detroit industrial fundamentals — 3.6% vacancy — support re-leasing in a way office fundamentals do not. That is the clearest place where the national number and the local market agree.
For exchange buyers on a clock: the identification deadline is the single largest destroyer of return in net lease. We would rather place a client in a slightly lower yield with clean fundamentals than watch a 45-day deadline dictate the asset. Start the search before the relinquished property closes.
Where this report reads beyond the cited figures, the basis is C3 CRE's own Michigan and Tampa Bay transaction experience, not a published dataset.
Next quarter
What we're watching next quarter
- Whether the office spread widens past 150 basis points, which historically precedes a repricing rather than a buying window.
- 1031 exchange volume through the second half of 2026 and its effect on retail cap rates in the sub-$5 million band.
- Michigan and Tampa Bay closed comparables against the national medians, which we track deal by deal.
Sources
Where these figures come from
- The Boulder Group — Net Lease Market Report, Q2 2026 · figures as of
Every figure on this page carries a named source and an effective date. Where the reading rests on C3 CRE's own transaction experience rather than a published dataset, it is disclosed as such rather than presented as data.
Questions
Net lease cap rates — Q2 2026 — questions we get asked
- What are net lease cap rates in 2026?
- The Boulder Group reported Q2 2026 national single-tenant asking cap rates of 6.60% for retail, 7.25% for industrial and 7.90% for office. The 6.82% blended figure quoted on this page is C3 CRE's simple unweighted average of those three sector rates, not a published Boulder Group metric.
- Why are net lease office cap rates higher than retail?
- The roughly 130 basis point premium prices re-leasing risk. With Detroit office vacancy at 19.4% in Q2 2026, a buyer of net-lease office is being paid to accept the possibility of re-tenanting into a soft market at term expiry.
- Do national cap rates apply to Michigan net lease deals?
- Only as a starting point. C3's position is that credit quality, remaining term and rent-to-market position move a Michigan or Tampa Bay trade further than geography does. A below-market rent with long corporate term trades inside the national median.
The rest of the series
Related reports
Prior quarter, next quarter, the same market in other property types, and the same property type in other markets — generated by the template, not added by hand.
This is the first published issue of the United States net lease series. The next issue covers the following quarter and will link back to this one automatically.
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