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Everyone is wondering how much longer this current economic cycle can last.  Will it be a black swan event?  The end of Libor?  An interest rate increase?  Or will it mirror Australia’s 20-plus years of stability?  Most seem to agree that unless some unforeseen event happens, there will not be a downturn for at least More

Count on regional and local banks to pick up steam during the second half of the year, especially as the big banks put more focus on their existing relationship borrowers.  This leaves room for regional and smaller players to grab attractive deals.  Market growth will also allow banks to increase their lending over thenext few More

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

The drop in interest rates fired up value-add buyers, causing cap rates to fall even further. While there are slightly fewer groups aggressively targeting only value-add deals (particularly in Texas due to real estate taxes), competition has grown even fiercer. Hard money acquisitions at contract signing are becoming more frequent. The combination of high-net-worth capital More

Count on single-family housing developers to make themselves at home in the multifamily space going forward. The beginning of this cycle saw a shift of new entrants such as Lennar, DR Horton, Toll Brothers, MBK Real Estate and Tricon become trailblazers for other housing developers tempted to get into multifamily development. Expect to see more 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