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FeaturesNet LeaseRetail

Improving Conditions: Investment Sales Market for Net-Leased Retail Assets Should Rebound in 2025

by Taylor Williams

By Randy Shearin Deals are getting done in the net lease retail sector, just not with the volume or velocity that industry veterans would like to see. Higher interest rates have hampered transactions in most commercial real estate sectors, leading to a slowdown in 1031 exchange deals, which this sector is extremely dependent upon.  Those in the industry are positive about 2025, however. With the Federal Reserve Bank cutting interest rates in late 2024 — and potentially embracing further cuts ahead — the winds appear to be in favor for the sector. To learn more, Shopping Center Business recently spoke with a number of net lease industry executives for its annual roundup. Putting Wind In The Sails For the past two years, the net lease retail market has been somewhat stymied by higher interest rates. Because most assets in the sector sell for under $15 million, the sector is heavily dependent on 1031 buyers — those selling from a commercial real estate asset and moving to another — and financing to lever those acquisitions. Because transaction volume has slowed in sectors like multifamily and office, 1031 transactions have slowed their pace. Higher interest rates directly impact an investor’s yield, often …

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FeaturesMultifamilySeniors Housing

Why Seniors Housing Acquisitions Activity Could Thrive in 2025

by Taylor Williams

By Hayden Spiess To say that the seniors housing sector has encountered strong headwinds over the past few years would be an understatement. The property sector was uniquely impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic. It scarcely had a chance to recover and enjoy rebounding occupancy before being faced with the reality of heightened interest rates. Amid all the challenges, industry professionals adopted a motivational yet pragmatic mantra and strategy: “Stay Alive Until ’25.” Now that 2025 has arrived, the sentiment among seniors housing investors is one of growing optimism. Brokers and investors alike say that more favorable conditions are leading to an uptick in transaction activity, even as some debt difficulties linger.  Azhar Jameeli, managing director of investments at IRA Capital and head of the firm’s seniors housing segment, is particularly bullish on the current prospects for the sector. “I don’t think that the opportunity has ever been better than what it is today,” asserts Jameeli, who has multiple decades of experience in seniors housing and cites the supply-demand balance as one of the main sources of his confidence. Data from MSCI supports this optimism. U.S. property and portfolio sales totaled $13.2 billion in 2024, up from $10.9 billion the prior …

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DevelopmentFeaturesSeniors Housing

Engaged by Design: Outdoor, Community Amenities Help Seniors Housing Residents Thrive

by Hayden Spiess

By Shawn Reed of FK Architecture A focus on wellness and lifestyle is among the top 10 senior housing trends for 2025, according to the Seniors Blue Book. With an increased focus on wellness spaces, community gardens and outdoor areas that can be utilized for different activities, seniors now have more opportunities to live healthier, more satisfying lives.  Landscape architects are uniquely suited to provide ways for seniors to experience the outdoors in a safe, accessible way. Ideally, this involves targeted, evidence-based design that emphasizes connection to nature while meeting seniors’ preferences for where they prefer to be and interact with others. Focusing on the important aspects of amenity design can improve health, foster a broader sense of community and increase positive interactions among seniors of all ages.  Strategic Amenity Location The “attention restoration theory” research conducted by Stephen and Rachel Kaplan shows the benefits humans get from being more in touch with nature. In seniors, increased time outdoors can result in health benefits such as better sleep, decreased incontinence, pain reduction and longevity. Granting residents proper amenity access to the outdoors also promotes mental acuity and psychological wellbeing.  Landscape architects have the opportunity to create amenities such as onsite …

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District of ColumbiaFeaturesLoansMultifamilySoutheastSoutheast Feature Archive

MBA: Commercial, Multifamily Loan Volume to Increase 16 Percent in 2025

by John Nelson

WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA) is forecasting that total commercial and multifamily mortgage borrowing and lending will rise to $583 billion in 2025, which is a 16 percent increase from 2024’s estimated total of $503 billion. The Washington, D.C.-based organization made the announcement at its 2025 Commercial/Multifamily Finance Convention and Expo (CREF) event taking place in San Diego. Multifamily lending, which is calculated into the total figure, is expected to rise to $361 billion in 2025 — also a 16 percent increase from last year’s estimate of $312 billion. MBA anticipates originations in 2026 will increase to $709 billion in total commercial real estate lending, with $419 billion of that allocated to multifamily lending. “Given the strong pickup in origination activity at the end of 2024, it appears that at least some borrowers and lenders are ready to move,” said Mike Fratantoni, MBA’s senior vice president and chief economist. “MBA is forecasting that interest rates are going to stay within a trading range for the next few years. We expect an increase in originations across property types and capital sources, but certainly recognize the additional challenges posed by the large number of loans scheduled to mature in …

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AcquisitionsContent PartnerDevelopmentFeaturesIndustrialLeasing ActivityLee & AssociatesLoansMidwestMultifamilyNortheastOfficeRetailSoutheastTexasWestern

Lee & Associates Report: Final Quarter 2024 Net Absorption Trends in Industrial, Office Likely Temporary; Multifamily, Retail Net Absorption Trajectories Stickier

by Sarah Daniels

Lee & Associates’ 2024 Q4 North America Market Report looks back at the tenant demand, absorption rates and vacancy trends for industrial, office, retail and multifamily sectors nationwide to extrapolate what might be on the horizon for 2025 and beyond. While net absorption in industrial and retail is down from the same period in 2023, the reasons — too much supply in the pipeline versus too little — are opposite for each sector. Similar mirroring due to reverse factors can be seen in the net positive absorption last quarter in office and multifamily. Net industrial absorption was down 45 percent in the last quarter of 2024, compared to the same quarter in 2023. However, vacancy rates are likely to decline this year due to a lower volume of construction starts completing in 2025. New in-office policies among prominent companies contributed to the office market’s second consecutive quarter of positive absorption, but overall, office vacancy numbers are expected to continue rising until 2026. Low vacancy and factors challenging development meant very few options for retail tenants seeking new, high-quality space. Retail tenants in the food and beverage arena have been taking advantage of increased national spending on food outside the home …

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Features

Debt Maturity Issues: What Are Some Solutions for Performing Borrowers?

by Taylor Williams

By Marcia Kaufman, CEO, Bayport Funding Multifamily and fix-and-flip property owners know the pressure — there are five weeks left on the bridge loan, but there’s six months’ worth of work that still needs to be done. It’s quite understandable: these kinds of projects now take much longer to complete than they used to, whether due to supply chain issues, the size of the project, permit holdups or any number of surprises that unfold during a remodeling or construction project. Simply put: The clock is ticking, and time isn’t on the owner’s side. While needing more time is standard as far as construction goes, lenders are much less forgiving. Many value-add or multifamily investment projects are funded with short-term bridge loans that come with 12- or 18-month terms. These loans may allow one short extension, but most don’t. Financial institutions are already hesitant to approve extensions, and those slim chances become more unlikely at year’s end, when banks begin to offload loans. They’re already constrained by their credit facility’s guidelines and have little wiggle room to work with borrowers, no matter how reasonable the request. This situation is, unfortunately, not uncommon. Yet it does not, and should not, reflect poorly …

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FeaturesMultifamilyNortheast Feature ArchiveSeniors Housing

Boomers Prefer University Campus Setting Over an ‘Elderly Island,’ Says InterFace Keynote Speaker

by Kristin Harlow

PHILADELPHIA — Andrew Carle believes that university retirement communities (URCs) represent a potential game-changing opportunity not only for the seniors housing industry but also for universities and retirees, if executed properly.  Yet, URCs are also extraordinarily complicated to operate, cautions the founder of UniversityRetirementCommunities.com, the first directory and information resource of its kind, which lists more than 85 such communities nationwide.  “It doesn’t get more difficult than trying to merge big, large, bureaucratic state universities that move very slowly and who live in a bubble of 20-year-olds with the senior living industry that’s very fast-paced, investor-oriented and focused on 80-year-olds. If you had to think of an odd couple, that would be it,” said Carle, an adjunct faculty member at Georgetown University and president of Carle Consulting. His comments came at the InterFace Seniors Housing Northeast conference on Dec. 5. at the Live! Casino & Hotel Philadelphia, where he was the keynote speaker.  Up until the last 15 years, there were only a handful of URCs nationwide, but today it’s among the fastest growing segments in the senior living industry, said Carle.  While the vast majority of URCs are loosely connected to institutions of higher learning, the top dozen or so …

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FeaturesLoans

Survey: Lenders’ Business Outlook Brightens

by John Nelson

Lenders and financial intermediaries are much more confident about the prospect for business growth in 2025 than they were heading into 2024, according to France Media’s 14th annual forecast survey conducted nationally. A massive 87 percent of debt providers and arrangers of capital expect the total dollar amount of commercial and multifamily loans closed by their firm in 2025 to be higher than in 2024, versus 7 percent who expect a decrease, according to the survey findings. Another 6 percent anticipate no change (see above chart). The sentiment is much more bullish than it was heading into 2024 when 58 percent of survey respondents projected an increase in deal volume, 24 percent predicted a decrease and 18 percent said deal volume would remain the same. Among those who expect a rise in annual deal volume in 2025, 43 percent predicted the increase will be by more than 20 percent. Another 17 percent of survey participants expect the increase in deal volume to range between 16 and 20 percent, and 15 percent of survey respondents expect an increase of 11 to 15 percent. Slightly more than half of respondents (52 percent) said that refinancing activity will make up the bulk of …

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DevelopmentFeaturesGeorgiaSoutheastStudent Housing

Student Housing Interior Designers, Developers Weigh In on What’s Hot and What’s Not

by John Nelson

As the student housing sector readies for a new generation of students to enter campuses — Generation Alpha — a few of the ‘tried and true’ amenity spaces that were hot with millennials or Gen Z have fallen by the wayside. Golf simulators, movie theaters and bohemian styling with baskets and lots of greenery are just a few of the once popular design choices that are now on the outs, according to Lucy Harrison, brand marketing manager with SouthPark Interiors.   Gone, too, are the days of designing one ‘Instagramable’ moment for your building and calling it a day, says Chelsea Kloss, executive vice president of design and curation with LV Collective. “Students want to live in a building that is beautiful and inspiring from all angles — not just with one space built for ‘the gram,’” she says. “They want not only to capture more organic content to share, but to experience it real-time. As designers, that challenges us to push the envelope on experiential design and the importance of finishing all aspects of a built environment.” Students’ desires for their fitness and wellness spaces have also seen a shift over the past few years, according to Kloss. “Designing …

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Affordable HousingFeaturesHeartland Feature ArchiveMultifamily

Affordable Housing Creativity Born Out of Necessity

by Kristin Harlow

Housing affordability continues to be a pressing issue across the country. According to the National Low Income Housing Coalition, the U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with extremely low incomes.  There are 34 affordable and available rental homes for every 100 extremely low-income renter households, which are defined as households either at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30 percent of the area median income (AMI), whichever is higher. “The country is facing a severe shortage of high-quality affordable housing, with demand far exceeding supply in the Midwest and every market we serve across the country,” says Geoff Milz, director of development for Ohio with Pennrose, which maintains eight offices across the U.S. “The housing crisis, compounded further by inflation and the rising cost of living, spans all demographics, geographies and family types.”  In short, the need for affordable housing “has never been more critical,” adds Milz. Affordable housing developers are eager to build, but they must get creative to obtain the necessary financing for new projects. Due to the restricted rents, affordable housing properties are unable to generate as much income as market-rate assets. “The primary tool that we use …

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