The pandemic set new social standards into play that will fundamentally change the way that people interact with real estate. While some of these changes will prove temporary, others will become fixtures of the post-pandemic world. These changes will inform investment strategy for the foreseeable future.

"It is easy to paint with a broad brush, but the details really do matter. We would argue that some of the changes, like the work-from-home model that we saw during the pandemic, are going to be permanent disruptors," Iman Brivanlou, managing director of Income Equities at the Los Angeles-based TCW, tells GlobeSt.com.

First up on the chopping block is CBD office, per Brivanlou's work-from-home reference. He used the example of many companies, including his own, that are downsizing office spaces, and in many cases, are moving to higher quality buildings in the process. "This is not atypical. This is the rule, rather than the exception," he says. "I would say that CBD office has a little bit of pricing power now, but I don't think that pricing power is going to be sustained."