DBRS Morningstar's Takeaways from CREFC Miami 2023: Day 3

The conference's final day began with a panel on multifamily and affordable housing. Multifamily has remained an attractive property type for investors, especially when the other asset classes have been having difficulties. Despite rent growth starting to slow down, the fundamentals for multifamily properties are still solid. On the other hand, the conversation around office finally came to a head at the second-to-last panel at the conference. The panelists themselves were split 50/50 on whether they prefer a hybrid approach to work or being in the office full time. This just proves that flexibility is important, and not every employee—or office tenant—is going to want the same thing. The last panelist discussed if there is anything left to lend on, but the panelists beleive there are few available lenders because many are still in discovery mode for what the new normal is since the financing landscape has changed so much. Panelists also agreed that the lending ecosystem won’t be restored until the securitization market comes back. However, conventional fixed-rate conduit CMBS was created for stabilized assets and is less ideal for this environment where many fewer properties are stabilized. If the market is relying on traditional CMBS, it might be waiting for a long time.