Cap rates on net lease retail properties rose by 2 basis points in the first quarter, to 6.37 percent, according to the firm’s research. Cap rates on net lease office assets went up by 8 basis points, to 7.1 percent.

Industrial cap rates, however, declined by 7 basis points quarter over quarter, to 7.0 percent. That change occurred as the number of industrial net lease properties on the market declined by 2.52 percent in the fourth quarter, to 352.

During the same period, the number of office properties on the market went up by 1.59 percent to 479. The number of available retail properties declined most substantially in the first quarter—by 8.55 percent to 4,358.

The findings align with NREI's recent net lease research, which found a majority of respondents still see healthy flows of capital targeting net lease assets.

Going forward, 58 percent of clients surveyed by The Boulder Group expect that cap rates in the net lease sector will continue to go up through the rest of the year, with 29 percent saying cap rates will move by 25 to 49 basis points and another 29 percent forecasting a more modest, 1- to 24-basis-point increase. Three percent of respondents said cap rates will move by 50 basis points or more and 10 percent said cap rates on net lease assets will move down. Twenty-nine percent were uncertain about where cap rates will go.