Pandemics. Politics. Profits. The year 2020 has seen chaos caused by all three. And on Thursday, October 29, 2020, professionals in the multifamily real estate industry came together to weigh in on just how impactful these will be in 2021.

David Wolfe, Esq., served as moderator for the nationally-broadcasted panel “Capital Markets for Multifamily: Debt, Equity, JV and Alternative Capital Raising”. The panel was part of CAPRE’s Fall 2020 Multifamily Leadership Roundtable and featured a lively discussion.

“Investors are shifting away from other asset classes to multifamily,” said Sheri Thompson, Executive Vice President of Real Estate at Walker & Dunlop. “[Multifamily] is the safe bet, along with industrial.” Thompson stated that investment sales are busier than the beginning of 2020, and that cap rates are arguably higher than pre-COVID-19 times.

To the contrary, other areas of the investor market may be experiencing a weaker outlook. A major concern in 2021 for Eve Picker is “the absolute ability for projects that are really going to make a difference to borrow money.” Picker is the founder and CEO of Small Change, a crowd-funding platform for real estate investment. “Real estate is a product that should be beautiful and available to everyone,” said Picker, who is also a real estate developer.

Unquestionably, tenants have experienced the most significant impact from the pandemic, with many in lower income brackets being forced to choose between paying rent and buying food. Concerning Class B or workforce housing, Wolfe stated, “I am seeing significant collection loss in places where it used to be 98 percent, now down to 80 percent.” As Skoloff & Wolfe, P.C. co-managing partner, David Wolfe has counseled clients across all major markets of the U.S in property tax appeal matters. He applauded commercial real estate owners’ efforts to work with their tenants toward viable solutions.

“No matter what happens, locally or at the federal level, when there’s a tilt in one direction in commercial real estate…there will always be someone who steps in to fill that gap,” said Adam Gower, Ph.D. Dr. Gower is the founder of GowerCrowd.com, focused on creating content marketing systems for capital syndication.

About CAPRE:

capre logoFounded in 2011, CapRate Events, LLC (CAPRE) is a digital media and events company specializing in property-specific conferences. CAPRE is the organizer of The National Data Center Summit Series, The National Healthcare Real Estate Series, The National Multifamily Investment Series and The New Jersey CRE Series for New York and New Jersey commercial real estate.

About Multifamily Property Tax Appeal:

Skoloff & Wolfe is extremely well-versed in the area of property tax law. The Tax Department has litigated the value of virtually every type of commercial, industrial and multi-family property. Our attorneys also frequently counsel clients regarding property tax exemption matters and long-term abatements and PILOTs. Contact us with your multifamily property tax appeal questions.