The Weekly Take from CBRE

Austin has been transformed over the past 20 years. A traditional government and college town has become a top tech hub and a model for developing metros. Heritage Title Company of Austin’s Gary Farmer and CBRE’s Bradley Bailey discuss the city’s ambitions, growth prospects and challenges.

Share these highlights from our conversation about Austin:

• Austin's economy has diversified significantly in the past 20 years, particularly with the growth of the tech, life sciences and automotive sectors.
• Infrastructure improvements, such as airport expansions and major roadway projects, are crucial for sustaining growth.
• Investing in social infrastructure to support students, seniors and everyone in between has been a major focus for Austin.
• The city's young, educated workforce is a major draw for companies, contributing to the rapid growth of Austin's tech sector.

Zoe Hughes of the National Association of Real Estate Investment Managers and David Chang of CoreNet Global highlight the benefits of a symbiotic relationship between real estate investors and occupiers.

Insights to Share:

• Investors and occupiers increasingly have similar priorities, especially with respect to operational efficiency and sustainability.
• Data-sharing between occupiers and investors can enhance asset performance.
• Consistent, open communication is essential for adapting to market changes and meeting the evolving needs of occupiers and investors.

Principal Asset Management’s Rod Vogel, a private equity investor, and Chris Duey, a debt specialist, share different perspectives on the current real estate market and identify sectors where they find common ground.

• Debt and equity investors often see the market differently.
• Rod Vogel, a private equity investor, remains bullish about the long-term.
• Chris Duey, a debt specialist, believes a new credit cycle may be emerging as property values adjust to the current interest rate environment.
• The investors share enthusiasm for data centers, Sun Belt multifamily and selective office investments.

Entrepreneurs Atticus LeBlanc of PadSplit and Christine Wendell of Pronto Housing discuss innovative ways to help address the acute affordable housing shortage. They discuss how new business models, paired with technology, can make housing more accessible and cost-effective for residents and more profitable for property owners.

• Utilizing new business models, coupled with technology, can make affordable housing more accessible and cost-effective.
• Optimizing the use of current housing stock through co-living can help to alleviate supply shortages and improve affordability.
• Using technology to streamline the compliance processes can get qualified residents into affordable housing faster.

CBRE’s Laura O’Brien, Chris Ludeman and Bill Concannon offer sage advice and discuss lessons learned as they wrap up storied commercial real estate careers—a must-listen for anyone interested in seasoned perspectives on our industry’s past, present and future.

Insights to Share:

1.     From Laura O’Brien: “Mentorship should actually be intentional. If you ask someone in this company to be your mentor, chances are they will say yes, but you have to make the first move.”

2.    From Chris Ludeman: “Take the work that we have been asked to do very seriously, but never take yourself too seriously.”

3.    From Bill Concannon: “Commercial real estate is a complex sale and a long cycle. So building trust requires time with people you know face to face.”

Secondary transactions—sometimes called indirect investing—are on the rise as a way to acquire real estate. Evercore’s Jarrett Vitulli and CBRE Investment Management’s Achal Gandhi discuss how these investment vehicles can boost returns at lower risk. 

• Secondary transactions are gaining traction as a way to acquire real estate. Often, these transactions offer  investors an opportunity to acquire real estate portfolios at a discount, enhancing returns without taking on property-level risk. 

• The secondary market for real estate is expanding, driven by the need for liquidity, strategic portfolio management and recapitalization opportunities. Notable opportunities are available in logistics, multifamily and healthcare real estate. 

• In today's market, secondary transactions can offer core stabilized assets at discounted rates. 

In this episode we explore how government policy affects the housing supply, foreign capital flows, office-to-residential conversion and more with Duane Desiderio of The Real Estate Roundtable and Darin Mellott, CBRE's Head of U.S. Capital Markets Research.

Asia Pacific presents attractive investment opportunities, particularly in the multifamily, hospitality and logistics sectors. KKR’s John Pattar and David Cheong and CBRE’s Greg Hyland discuss capital flows, occupier market fundamentals and the importance of ESG.

Insights to Share:

1. Demand for hospitality, multifamily and logistics is growing.

2. Office occupiers strongly prefer high-quality, well-managed buildings that follow ESG principles.

3. The work-from-home phenomenon did not really impact most countries, so office market fundamentals in most dense cities are strong.

CBRE Global Chief Economist Richard Barkham and Cycle Monitor’s Glenn Mueller share insights on what to expect across real estate sectors in the second half of 2024.

Insights to Share:

·     Real estate is a delayed mirror of the economy, says acclaimed forecaster Glenn Mueller.

·     Amid an anticipated long, slow recovery, specialized asset types like self storage and data centers are seeing increased demand.

·     Demand for real estate is tied closely to employment growth. 

·     Consumer spending has been resilient, but is showing signs of slowing, and corporate balance sheets remain strong. 

CBRE Global Chief Economist Richard Barkham and Cycle Monitor’s Glenn Mueller share insights on what to expect across real estate sectors in the second half of 2024.

Insights to Share:

·     Real estate is a delayed mirror of the economy, says acclaimed forecaster Glenn Mueller.

·     Amid an anticipated long, slow recovery, specialized asset types like self storage and data centers are seeing increased demand.

·     Demand for real estate is tied closely to employment growth. 

·     Consumer spending has been resilient, but is showing signs of slowing, and corporate balance sheets remain strong.