Authored by Brent Maier, Kevin Secrist, Nich Palkovic

The fourth quarter continued to present many of the same challenges from earlier in the year as COVID-19 cases surged and businesses and property sectors continued to be affected disparately. Nonetheless, the quarter also answered some questions with the introduction of the COVID-19 vaccination, the resolution of the U.S. presidential election with President Joe Biden’s victory and a second wave of government stimulus. The general takeaways of the quarter were increasing confidence for businesses and investors as evidenced by surging transaction activity, increasing equity values and a stabilizing employment environment. There is optimism that the vaccinations and second round of stimulus will be the final bridge to a return to some semblance of normalcy in 2021 and market participants have deployed capital and behaved accordingly.

For more information on this topic, or to learn how Baker Tilly specialists can help, contact our team.