On April 23rd, CrowdStreet’s Ian Formigle was joined by Melissa Reagen of Nuveen Real Estate to discuss how commercial real estate is reacting to COVID-19 and what investors should consider about potential investment opportunities in the future. Moderated by Peter Grant of The Wall Street Journal, Ian and Melissa discussed:
As both Ian and Melissa pointed out, different metros and different asset classes will bounce back at different times, but Melissa added that we simply don’t have the data yet to say what will happen in the rest of 2020 and into 2021. Will urban apartment dwellers flee to more suburban living spaces like Build-to-Rent communities? Will companies keep some portion of their staff operating remotely? And how long will it take for hotels to recover from occupancy rates as low as 10%?
Peter echoed her sentiment, explaining that while historically it’s been possible for people to make a lot of money in downturns, we’ve never seen anything quite like this–it’s more than the real estate cycle, it’s more than just a down economy. COVID-19 is having such a broad impact on our lives that it’s almost impossible to predict what will happen.
So when it comes to investing in a post-COVID-19 economy, Ian ended the live stream with this thought, “Regardless of whether this recession is V-shaped, U-shaped, or a swoosh, all we can do is look at each individual opportunity and see if there is a compelling factor that makes that deal make sense right now.”