A plethora of media coverage regarding “what’s not working” in commercial real estate has taken place since the beginning of 2023, but most of that coverage has been targeted at the outer layers of a deeper and more systemic set of challenges confronting the industry. To better understand what’s not working, the use of a visual image is helpful. In this case, imagine peeling back the layers of an onion to see what lies beneath (and what could potentially make CRE investors and lenders cry in 2024).The obvious problematic outer layers are the Federal Reserve, interest rates and declining CRE values at a time when approximately $1.5 trillion of CRE faces refinancing by early 2025.
