Instant Insights Coronavirus and CRE

The outbreak of COVID-19 will certainly be a decrease in real estate demand drivers, but there will be some great buying opportunities.

With people rushing out to grocery stores and pharmacies, daily needs retailers are doing well amid the crisis.

The coronavirus has brokers guessing as to how this will affect leasing in the short term, and Avison Young says leasing activity is likely to have a degree of decline in transaction volumes compared to pre-crisis expectations.

To shoulder the temporarily new normal of isolation in the face of the current public health crisis, real estate brokers are relying heavily on technology more than ever to get deals done.

Not many operators appear to be interested in the idea though.

Proptech firm Okapi has been busy at work generating analysis using property data to identify risks to landlords to determine how vulnerable companies are to the coronavirus or like ailments to minimize them.

New projects cannot be started at this time unless it meets certain criteria. Any currently permitted and active construction project must be in a secure situation by Monday, March 23.

Given the uncertainty and dwindling cash flow, lenders in the sector must prepare for loan workouts and restructurings.