In terms of mortgage financing, Frank Cohen, senior managing director at Blackstone, said though regional banks are still under pressure, the return of the CMBS market could aid in the recovery. “If that market just returns to a $40-billion to $50-billion market over the next two years, I think you will see a lot of capital going in,” Cohen said. “That’s also going to impact the liquidity we’ve been talking about.”

At the same time, the office sector is considered a “tough space” due to high unemployment, company downsizing and an increased amount of telecommuting, explained Joseph F. Azrack, conference co-chair and managing partner at Apollo Global Real Estate. However, he explained that multifamily and retail will ramp back up again, which in turn will positively affect office space. “If we grow our economy and if we grow our population with no new supply or limited new supply coming in over the next five years, we will absorb those things and we will get back to a much higher level of occupancy,” Azrack said.

With office in flux, Nicholas Schorsch, chairman and CEO of American Realty Capital, said investors should look toward healthcare properties that are campus-oriented. “With the demographics and the population over the next five years, it is terrific,” he said. “And we can’t outsource it. The fact that we have more people aging, we are going to need new facilities.”

Jay L. Koster II, president of the capital markets group at Jones Lang LaSalle, said the industry should look beyond the gateway cities. “The secondary markets that have risk haven’t seen a lot of movement, but the movement will come, especially in markets where there is more strong job growth.”