Real Estate Forum

While the previous edition of this annual symposium focused on gauging the length and depth of the downturn, panelists this year discussed how investors can translate the emerging recovery into real estate terms. Specifically, they charted possible signs of life in the CMBS market, the Obama administration's role in assisting the industry, strategic opportunities in 2010, the budding IPO market and the need for equity in distressed-asset deals.

Schecky Schechner, managing director and US head of real estate investment banking at Barclay's Capital, cited four factors affecting the availability of distressed properties. They included: the lack of pressure on banks to not simply kick the can down the road; the "pass the trash" assets that have come onto the market as a result of FDIC takeovers; "deal fatigue," in which "lenders aren't foreclosing, but borrowers are"; and "lender fatigue," the point at which financial institutions recognize that it's time to exit a deal, however painful that may be.

Steve Pumper, executive managing director of investment services at Transwestern, and Michael Desiato, vice president and group publisher of ALM's Real Estate Media Group, moderated the hour-long discussion. Also featured were: Frank Cohen, senior managing director at Blackstone Real Estate Advisors; C. Stephen Cordes, managing director at ING Clarion Partners; and Todd T. Liker, managing director at Oaktree Capital Management.