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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 true, unrenovated value-add deals to be few, far between and highly competitive to close. New buying groups are emerging and they are closing deals, making the crowded space even tighter. Institutional money such as Prudential and Heitman have entered the Class B space in search of yield at a strong risk-adjusted basis. Family offices More

Companies such as Pinnacle, Lincoln, Uptown Rental Properties and Kettler will be watching virtual reality tours like a hawk. Online tours have been a huge boon to the online leasing trend that has taken off in the last couple of years. This new marketing technique is still in its infancy, but count on seeing more More

Bridge lending remains fierce for multifamily, but some of the newer debt funds may step away from the space. Surety of execution will be the most important factor for bridge lenders going forward. The explosion in the space means rates can be absurdly low for bridge loans. Borrowers will still need to do their due 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