NEW YORK CITY—Many would agree that we are once again in bubble territory in the pricing levels of financial assets. In spite of a thorough absence of economic vibrancy and extreme levels of geopolitical instability that at the least drain resources that could otherwise be invested in economically productive endeavors, pricing of financial assets are at or near historical highs. The questions that are on many people's minds today include: How long can this go on for? What could cause the bubble to pop? How can I protect myself when it does?

For most of the past 4 years I have heard predictions of an imminent interest rate increase. I recall sitting on a panel at a CBRE Investors conference around 2010 or 2011 while I was a senior member of their executive team, and in response to a question about rates I said that I believed that there was a great chance of rates declining than increasing in that next year.

There were murmurs of surprise, and probably some snickers too thinking that it was so obvious that I was wrong. Just a couple of weeks ago someone very close to me who owns a fairly sizeable portfolio of well located commercial real estate told me he was selling everything. How, I responded, could anyone rightly disagree with that plan given that he would be getting all-time record pricing for his assets? However, I pointed out, I think that there may be a greater chance that his 4 cap assets move towards a 2 cap in the coming years than towards a 6 cap.