You find commercial real estate by searching four places at once: listing websites, commercial brokers, the street and public property records. Each channel shows part of the market, so a search that relies on one will miss buildings. The right starting point depends on whether you want to lease space, buy a building for your business or buy for income.
| Your goal | Start with | Then add | What you could miss |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lease space for a business | A tenant-side broker and listing sites | Walking the area, asking nearby owners | Space a landlord has not advertised |
| Buy a building for your business | Listing sites and a buyer-side broker | Owner lookups in public records | Owners who would sell if asked |
| Buy for income | Brokers' private lists | Public records, letters to owners, auctions | Deals sold before they reach a website |
Write down your criteria first: property type, size, budget, area and permitted use. A listing's labels can be unfamiliar, and our commercial real estate glossary explains them. A shell space, for one, arrives with structure and base utilities and no finished interior.
The listing sites most searchers meet first are LoopNet and Crexi in the United States, and REALTOR.ca and Centris in Canada. CoStar Group, which owns LoopNet, describes its network as a service that lets owners, landlords and their agents "advertise properties for sale or for lease" (CoStar Group, 2025 annual report). The same filing describes CoStar itself as "subscription-based" research and Ten-X as an "online auction platform for commercial real estate". In Quebec, Centris has its own search for commercial properties for rent.
Use a listing site to learn prices and to see which brokers work your area. Then confirm each listing with the agent, because availability and rent can change after a listing goes up.
Yes, but the National Association of REALTORS (NAR) describes two services, and only their members can open the current data. NAR's two types are the Commercial Information Exchange and the Commercial/Industrial MLS. Its comparison says "Only Participants and their affiliated licensees may have access to and use of the current property information" (NAR, commercial services). A broker who participates in one can search it for you.
To find commercial space for rent, set your size and budget, hire a tenant-side broker, then check listing sites and walk the blocks you want. The Business Development Bank of Canada (BDC) tells business owners to "Find a commercial real estate broker to help you search for a space" (BDC, leasing guide). The landlord usually pays that broker, so the search itself rarely costs a tenant cash up front.
Five routes turn up space, and each one finds something the others miss:
- Listing sites. Filter by type, size and area, and save the search so new space reaches you.
- Tenant-side broker. Brokers hear about tenants who plan to move before any notice goes up.
- Nearby businesses. Owners on the block know which neighbour is leaving and which landlord treats tenants well.
- Walking or driving. Look for signs, papered windows and empty parking lots at busy hours.
- Subleases. A tenant who has outgrown its space may let part of it go at a lower rent, for a shorter term.
Look first at whether local zoning allows your business there, then at size, location, condition and total cost. The US Small Business Administration (SBA) says to "make sure it conforms to local zoning requirements", and warns that zoning ordinances "can restrict or entirely ban specific kinds of businesses" (SBA, business location). BDC suggests an independent advisor who can "be familiar with zoning regulations" in the area (BDC, choosing a location).
Then check the space itself. Ask how much of the rentable area you can really use, since rentable square feet include a share of lobbies and corridors. Ask what condition the landlord delivers, and whether a tenant improvement allowance pays for the build-out.
Convert every listing to a yearly cost on the same floor area before you compare them. A triple net (NNN) lease charges base rent plus the tenant's share of taxes, insurance and maintenance. A gross lease folds those costs into one rent. Here are two hypothetical listings for 2,500 square feet, with the net charges estimated at $8 per square foot:
| Listing A | Listing B | |
|---|---|---|
| Asking rent per square foot | $24, NNN lease | $30, gross lease |
| Base rent per year | $60,000 | $75,000 |
| Net charges per year | $20,000 | Included |
| Total per year | $80,000 | $75,000 |
Listing A looks $6 a square foot cheaper and costs $5,000 a year more. Ask each landlord for last year's actual charges, and rerun the table with those figures.
To find a building for sale, search listing sites and auctions, ask brokers for their private lists, then approach the owners of buildings that fit. An off-market property changes hands without a public listing, and our market guide covers five ways to find off-market commercial real estate. Once you have a target, the steps to buy commercial real estate take over.
Public property records usually name a building's owner, and the office that holds them depends on where the building sits. In the United States, start with the county recorder or assessor. In Canada, start with the provincial land title or land registry system. These examples show what you can expect:
| Place | Public source | What it gives you |
|---|---|---|
| New York City | ACRIS, the city register | Deeds and other documents for four boroughs, "from 1966 to the present" |
| British Columbia | BC Assessment search | A free search of assessed value, size, year built and "any applicable recent sales history" |
| British Columbia | Land Title and Survey Authority | The registered owners, from "a copy of the title", which you order "for a fee" |
| Quebec | Registre foncier du Québec | The land register, with the lot number "accessible gratuitement" from an address |
The record often names a company. Search that company in the state or provincial business registry to find the people behind it, then write to them with the building, your interest and your contact details.
Auction sites such as Ten-X sell private commercial property, and the US General Services Administration (GSA) sells surplus federal property. GSA's list of property types includes "Office buildings, former schools, hospitals, and other structures". Under its public sales and auctions, "Anyone can bid" (GSA, real property disposition). Read the sale terms and inspect the property before you bid, since an auction leaves less room to renegotiate.
Divide the building's net operating income by the asking price to get its capitalization rate, then compare that with recent sales nearby. Net operating income (NOI) is the income left after operating expenses and before loan payments. Take a hypothetical building listed at $2,400,000 with a stated NOI of $168,000: that is a 7.0% cap rate. If the seller's figure counts a vacant suite as rented and the actual NOI is $148,000, the rate falls to 6.2%. Ask for the rent roll and the operating statements before you trust the stated figure.
The US Energy Information Administration (EIA) counted about 5.9 million commercial buildings in 2018, and 71% of them had 10,000 square feet or less. Those smaller buildings held only 19% of the floorspace (EIA, 2018 survey, Table B1). The 2018 survey is the newest EIA has published. It counts some buildings a broker would not call commercial, "such as schools, hospitals, correctional institutions, and buildings used for religious worship" (EIA, about the survey), and it covers the United States only.
Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration, 2018 CBECS, Table B1. Shares computed by Sphera Credit.
Size changes where you should look. A broker's commission grows with the deal, so at any given rate a $6,000,000 sale pays ten times what a $600,000 sale pays. Larger buildings therefore draw more marketing, while a small building's owner may post nothing more than a window sign.
The 2018 survey counted 208,000 vacant buildings, 131,000 of them in the smallest size band (EIA, Table B6). EIA calls a building vacant when "more floorspace was vacant than was used for any single commercial activity" (EIA, building types). If you need under 5,000 square feet, walking the area and looking up owners deserve as much time as the websites.
Three beliefs slow a search down: that one database lists every building, that the broker on the listing works for you, and that any home agent can run the search.
Some guides describe the MLS as a database of every commercial property, and NAR's own rules point the other way. Its services restrict current data to participants, and a listing site carries what owners and agents choose to advertise. An owner who has told nobody appears in no database at all, which is why the public records above matter.
The listing broker works for the owner, in most deals. Texas puts it this way: "The broker becomes the property owner's agent through an agreement with the owner" (Texas Real Estate Commission, brokerage notice). That agent must also pass on material information the buyer discloses. Rules differ by state and province, so ask whom the broker represents before you share your budget.
The licence often allows it, and the skills differ. Our brokerage guide explains what a residential agent has to learn for commercial property, starting with pricing on income and lease structures. Choose someone who closes deals of your type in your area.
Brokers also search from the other side. They win commercial real estate listings by contacting owners, often for years before a sale, so a broker who knows your criteria may hear of a building before it has a listing at all.