This is a question I get from buyers and tenants who’ve been searching in all the wrong places — spending hours on Zillow or Realtor.com wondering why they can’t find the commercial property they’re looking for. The answer is straightforward: commercial property is listed in an entirely different ecosystem from residential real estate, and knowing where to look changes everything.
Here’s a complete breakdown of where commercial property is listed — and how to access the full picture, not just the public surface.
The Primary Public Platforms
LoopNet
LoopNet is the most widely used public-facing commercial real estate listing platform in the United States. It aggregates for-sale and for-lease listings across all commercial asset classes — office, retail, industrial, multifamily, land, hotels, and special-use properties — from markets across the country.
LoopNet is owned by CoStar Group, which means its data is fed by the same professional infrastructure that powers the institutional market. For buyers, tenants, and investors beginning a commercial property search, LoopNet is the right starting point.
CREXi
CREXi (Commercial Real Estate Exchange) is a rapidly growing marketplace that has established itself as a legitimate competitor to LoopNet, particularly for smaller deals, regional markets, and auction-style transactions. CREXi’s interface is clean and its listing inventory continues to expand. Any serious commercial property search should include CREXi alongside LoopNet.
Auction and Distressed Asset Platforms
For distressed commercial properties, bank-owned assets, and portfolio liquidations:
- Ten-X: One of the largest online commercial real estate auction platforms
- Auction.com: Lists both residential and commercial properties in competitive bidding formats
- Bid4Assets and Hudson & Marshall: Additional auction resources for distressed CRE
The Professional Layer — Where Advisors Search
CoStar
CoStar is the professional-grade database that sits behind LoopNet and is the platform of choice for commercial real estate brokers, institutional investors, lenders, and advisors. A CoStar subscription provides access to:
- Comprehensive property records including ownership history, building specifications, and tenant information
- Active listing inventory including properties not yet publicly visible on LoopNet
- Sales and lease comparable transactions
- Submarket analytics including vacancy, absorption, rent trends, and supply pipeline data
Most high-quality commercial property deals are transacted by professionals using CoStar — which is why working with an advisor who has active CoStar access gives you a material advantage over self-directed searches.
REIS and Moody’s Analytics CRE
For institutional investors and larger operators, platforms like REIS (now part of Moody’s Analytics) provide commercial real estate market data, forecasting, and analytics that complement listing searches with deep market intelligence.
Regional and Local Listing Sources
Local Broker Websites
Many regional commercial real estate firms — particularly in secondary and tertiary markets — maintain their own listing inventories that may not appear on national platforms. Savills, CBRE, JLL, Colliers, Cushman & Wakefield, and hundreds of regional boutique firms publish available properties on their own websites. In markets where these firms are the dominant leasing agents, their websites are essential search resources.
Local MLS Systems With Commercial Sections
In some markets, local Multiple Listing Services include commercial property data. While coverage is inconsistent and generally less comprehensive than dedicated CRE platforms, local MLS systems can surface smaller deals — particularly in suburban and rural markets — that don’t appear elsewhere.
Where the Best Listings Never Appear
Here’s what I want every serious buyer and tenant to understand: a significant share of quality commercial property transactions happen off any public listing platform entirely. These off-market deals flow through:
- Broker networks and advisor relationships — properties are offered to preferred buyers before public launch
- Direct owner-to-buyer conversations facilitated by advisors with ownership intelligence
- Institutional and family office networks where deals are shared privately
- Lender and special servicer pipelines where distressed or note-sale opportunities are quietly offered
If you’re only searching public listing platforms, you’re seeing a fraction of what’s actually available in any given market at any given time.
My Practical Recommendation
For a comprehensive commercial property search, combine:
- Regular searches and alerts on LoopNet and CREXi
- A relationship with a CRE advisor who has CoStar access and an active professional network
- Direct engagement with regional brokers who specialize in your target asset class and market
- Participation in local CRE industry events where off-market opportunities surface organically
If you want to know exactly where commercial property is listed in your target market — and access the deals that aren’t — I’m Matt Bingaman. Contact me today and let’s build a search strategy that covers the full market.