Investment Matters: Building Bridges to CRE Finance

October 21, 2026

Fairbridge Asset Management Co-Founder Brian Walter and host Paul Rosta discuss strategies for building a company, trends shaping the real estate capital markets and more.

In 2018, Brian Walter co-founded Fairbridge Asset Management with about $3 million raised from family and friends. It was a modest start, but Walter already had plenty of tools in his toolkit. He knew how to run a company, and he’d spent decades building his expertise in fields ranging from institutional credit trading and leveraged finance to managing a family office.

On left, graphic of a chart superimposed on an image of a city skyline; on the right, two photos in circular frames. At the top right, a photo of Fairbridge Asset Management Co-Founder Brian Walter in a circular frame. At bottom right, photo of CPE's Paul Rosta in a circular frame. — Brian Walter of Fairbridge Asset Management and host Paul Rosta discuss strategies for CRE finance and building a company.

Fast forward to today, and Fairbridge Asset Management, has originated about $1.6 billion on loans and manages $800 million in assets. In this episode, Walter recounts how Fairbridge found its sweet spot in a space that’s below the multibillion-dollar asset managers, as he puts it. You’ll hear why he believes that real estate finance and investment isn’t only financially rewarding—it’s an opportunity to contribute to the public good.

We also spent a lot of time talking about the dynamics of the real estate capital markets and the challenges of getting deals done. Just a note about the timing of this episode. It was recorded before the Federal Open Market Committee raised the federal funds rate in September, so at the time of this conversation, we still didn’t know what the Fed was going to do.

But Walter’s expectations about the rate hike turned out to be spot on, and his predictions about the impact on real estate finance and investment are insightful, too. Take a listen.