{"id":1004715414,"date":"2024-05-30T02:47:53","date_gmt":"2024-05-30T10:47:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?p=1004715414"},"modified":"2024-06-04T08:09:10","modified_gmt":"2024-06-04T16:09:10","slug":"cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/","title":{"rendered":"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
\"CBRE
Josh Stoffregen-Foye, global head of media relations for CBRE Investment Management hosts the firm’s second press luncheon, featuring a discussion between Wei Luo, Kim Hourihan, Helen Gurfel and Julie Ingersoll. Photo courtesy of CBRE Investment Management<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n

Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon expressed positive sentiments<\/a> around commercial real estate finance, investment and development going into the second half of the year. At the forefront of their predictions and priorities were trends around interest rates, infrastructure and sustainability initiatives.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s in, what\u2019s out in CRE investment<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kicking off the conference, Wei Luo, the firm\u2019s global associate research director, predicted an interest rate cut later this year, adding to an \u201cencouraging\u201d macroeconomic environment that will warm up investor sentiments. Luo welcomed the increased certainty, given both the volatility of the Fed\u2019s repeated rate hikes last year that took place with the backdrop of decades-high inflation. \u201cImagine if your phone signal is unstable, and repeatedly goes on and off. That is how I felt forecasting over the last three years,\u201d Luo said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for the immediate effects of these positive sentiments, Luo foresees increasingly accessible credit for new investments, alongside narrowing price gaps and valuation increases in multifamily and logistics properties, the businesses\u2019 biggest investment darlings<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kim Hourihan, the company\u2019s chief investment officer, shares these perspectives on the ground, anticipating an \u201casset balance,\u201d as increasingly promising sectors present themselves, while others fade more into the background. Here, it is not only the buildings themselves that are important, but the infrastructure needed to power and maintain them, coupled with how they are powered. \u201cIt\u2019s not the old-world oil and gas, but the next generation: data centers, last mile (logistics) and cell towers,\u201d Hourihan explained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

READ ALSO<\/strong>: CBRE Tentpole Report: Future-Proofing the Urban Core<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n\n\n\n

Where the positive sentiments were lacking, however, were in the office sector, which CBRE Research has recorded as hitting a record vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year. \u201cThe fundamentals are tough, and they are going to be for a while,\u201d Hourihan noted. \u201cIt\u2019s not dead, but it has a lot of headwinds and challenges.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But the panelists largely viewed such trends as more of a natural evolution than a rapid, pandemic-imposed shift on stakeholders. Hourihan compared the current investment priorities with those of 2008, 2012 and 2013, noting how the firm has elected to weigh some asset classes over others. \u201cIn 2008, there was an overweight to residential, in 2012 an overweight to logistics and an underweight to office and in 2013, infrastructure was negative and real estate was positive.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sustainability solutions<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Dovetailing with the firm\u2019s investment priorities were panelists\u2019 approaches toward sustainability. The product of both increasing regulations<\/a> worldwide, alongside a widespread desire to innovate on this front by many of the company\u2019s Fortune 500 and 100 clients has led to a desire to make investment more \u201cforward-looking and future proof,\u201d than ever before, according to Helen Gurfel, the firm\u2019s head of sustainability and innovation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As for how this impacts investment in practice, Gurfel pointed to infrastructure powering the industrial facilities, data centers and the like as being responsible for 80 percent of greenhouse emissions annually, necessitating a need for sustainable energy from both an investment standpoint and that of doing right by their beneficiaries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Closed-door conversations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Many of the sentiments and predictions expressed by the panelists are the product of extensive communication with clients, and so their perspective has been instrumental in determining the firm\u2019s next steps. Among their chief concerns have been the ability to both supply an increasingly complex built environment with the resources it needs, coupled with a mandate to decarbonize, according to Julie Ingersoll, chief investment officer of Americas Direct Real Estate Strategies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Additionally, the firm\u2019s clients have been racking their brains about the demographic challenges that exist alongside an ongoing manufacturing revival and widespread investor interest in the above. As an example, Ingersoll cited Columbus, Ohio, and the large-scale investment in chip fabrication and data centers<\/a> going on there as necessitating the construction of more multifamily housing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Such concerns have spilled over to the widespread adoption of artificial intelligence and its potential impacts on both employment markets and the already ailing office sector. \u201cIf we lose 25 percent of jobs, what is the downstream impact going to be on the office sector?\u201d Ingersoll asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From a pure fiduciary perspective, however, the chief problem appears to be uncertainty in credit markets, given the fact that regional banks, which provided two-thirds of debt last year, remain on the sidelines as interest rates remain elevated. One highly deleterious potential impact could be toward deflated credit spreads, which Ingersoll sees as having \u201cnegative pressure on cap rates and property values.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Still, Hourihan predicts that 2024 will be an \u201cexcellent vintage year\u201d for CRE investment in the long-term.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

While short-term hurdles remain, the CRE sector appears poised for long-term gains.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3012,"featured_media":1004715415,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21808,21825,21748,21783,23891,21742,21747,51037],"tags":[51764],"class_list":["post-1004715414","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-finance","category-industrial","category-investment","category-national","category-latest","category-office","category-trends","tag-cbre-investment-management"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nCBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy - Commercial Property Executive<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Commercial Property Executive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-05-30T10:47:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-06-04T16:09:10+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1199\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"899\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Gabriel Frank\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@cpexecutive\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/\",\"name\":\"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy - Commercial Property Executive\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-05-30T10:47:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-06-04T16:09:10+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c\"},\"description\":\"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg\",\"width\":1199,\"height\":899,\"caption\":\"CBRE Press Luncheon II\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Commercial Property Executive\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c\",\"name\":\"Gabriel Frank\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90\",\"caption\":\"Gabriel Frank\"},\"description\":\"Gabriel Frank is a Senior Associate Editor with Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive. He has a background in journalism, and is the editor of MHN's Daily and Weekly newsletters. He lives in New York City.\",\"birthDate\":\"2000-05-11\",\"gender\":\"Male\",\"jobTitle\":\"Editor\",\"worksFor\":\"Yardi Systems\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gabriel-frank\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy - Commercial Property Executive","description":"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy","og_description":"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/","og_site_name":"Commercial Property Executive","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/CPExecutive","article_published_time":"2024-05-30T10:47:53+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-06-04T16:09:10+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1199,"height":899,"url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Gabriel Frank","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@cpexecutive","twitter_site":"@cpexecutive","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/","name":"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy - Commercial Property Executive","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg","datePublished":"2024-05-30T10:47:53+00:00","dateModified":"2024-06-04T16:09:10+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c"},"description":"Panelists speaking at CBRE Investment Management\u2019s second press luncheon had positive sentiments around commercial real estate investment.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg","width":1199,"height":899,"caption":"CBRE Press Luncheon II"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/cbre-expert-panel-clearer-skies-and-capital-priorities\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"CBRE Panel: Clearer Skies, But Office Still Cloudy"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/","name":"Commercial Property Executive","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/cf1bfd2d6753f6ea305911ffd020862c","name":"Gabriel Frank","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2025\/05\/GF2.jpg?w=90","caption":"Gabriel Frank"},"description":"Gabriel Frank is a Senior Associate Editor with Multi-Housing News and Commercial Property Executive. He has a background in journalism, and is the editor of MHN's Daily and Weekly newsletters. He lives in New York City.","birthDate":"2000-05-11","gender":"Male","jobTitle":"Editor","worksFor":"Yardi Systems","url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/author\/gabriel-frank\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/46\/2024\/05\/Panel_2_May29-e1717016725467.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004715414","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3012"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1004715414"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004715414\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1004715931,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1004715414\/revisions\/1004715931"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1004715415"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1004715414"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1004715414"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.commercialsearch.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1004715414"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}