Despite the shock of the pandemic, and now war overseas, New Jersey's commercial real estate market recovered in 2021 from its pandemic-induced slowdown in 2020 and is expected to continue to progress throughout this year. Record numbers of commercial real estate transactions took place in 2021. The fast growth of available jobs last year, resulting in under 4% unemployment at year's end, fueled real estate demand. A record $809 billion in real estate sales occurred last year and real estate stocks gained more than 43% compared to the S&P 500's approximately 15 percentage points higher than the S&P. While growth of the job market and the economy are the most important factors affecting commercial real estate, the emergence of historic rising inflation has its effects as well.