Sara Havlena

Borrowers will see plenty of financing options for self storage this year.  In the past, lenders looked at this property as specialized, but that view has changed.  More lenders will look toward self-storage as they move away from the four main food groups.  Too much competition in multifamily and industrial and less favorable demographics in More

There will be ample liquidity in the construction lending space from banks, debt funds and select life company lenders.  Banks will compete on pricing and be more disciplined on leverage during the second half of the year.  Keep an eye out for more non-bank lenders to enter the construction lending game.  This increased competition will More

There will be plenty of capital floating around the office sector this year.  More lenders will target office as they pull away from retail and see increased competition for multifamily deals.  Look for a big push toward Class B office assets, as a lot of Class C product has been taken off the market.  There More

There will continue to be plenty of liquidity for well-located hotels with strong demand drivers.  Borrowers will see moderate leverage, and interest-only loans will be limited to low-leverage deals and the strongest properties.  Only the best hotel managers will be considered, and lenders could start to be more selective on the brand, even within well-established More

There will be a tremendous amount of JV and pref equity capital looking for opportunities this year.  The number of equity providers will grow as people look for real estate-backed investments because of the favorable returns.  Watch for common equity providers to shift toward pref equity due to the view that the economy is late More

Multifamily borrowers will see a plethora of available capital for all types of deals this year.  Watch for the agencies to pick up the most market share, while banks, life companies and conduits all push to get deals done.  There will be a need for perm loans as construction and bridge loans will be coming More

Expect every lender to closely watch rates this year, especially the big players such as Wells Fargo, BofA, Chase, Citi and U.S. Bank.  Anticipate rates to be relatively flat throughout the year, with a possible 0.25% increase by December.  After hinting at around four spikes, the recent chatter is that the Fed plans fewer raises More

Capital will be flowing for industrial assets this year, as more lenders look for exposure given the supply/demand characteristics, rent growth projections and being underweight in this property type.   Industrial has been a favored asset class for the past several years, especially in port areas and markets with high barriers to entry.  Recent demand has More

There will be a need for more land capital this year, especially as construction loans are harder to come by.  It will be a cautious market, but lenders are still willing to provide capital for the right deals.  Debt funds and private money lenders will be the best bet for non-recourse loans, although with higher More

Bank lending will be robust this year with major banks such as BofA, Wells Fargo, JP Morgan Chase, Deutsche Bank, U.S. Bank, TD Bank, PNC Bank, BB&T, KeyBank, SunTrust, Morgan Stanley, Bank OZK and Fifth Third Bank all picking up market share.  Volume will be on par with 2018.  Watch for banks to offer more More

Bridge lending will be strong in 2019 as investors continue to seek value-add transactions.  There will be plenty of money, but not enough deals.  Watch out for an increasing number of insurance company lenders to enter the space, along with former equity funds looking for better risk-adjusted yield.  Bridge lenders that are having difficulty taking More

There will be no shortage of hotel construction capital, as 2019 allocations exceed 2018 across the board with a strong lender desire to place money.  Expect certain lenders to be more open to non-primary markets and independent properties in order to grab yield.  However, construction lending will be selective and focused on borrowers with strong More