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Andrew Alperstein, real estate partner at PwC, was a guest on the latest episode of Nareit’s REIT Report podcast. Alperstein said a key theme from the PwC/Urban Land Institute Emerging Trends in Real Estate® 2025 report is that commercial real estate is at the outset of a new cycle, one that is likely to result in increased activity and improved momentum in the year ahead.
“We were pleasantly surprised and pleased to see an improvement in sentiment as we looked at our 2025 publication relative to 2024 and 2023,” Alperstein said, “particularly given we've had a challenging couple of years with higher interest rates and really a lack of transaction activity.”
Alperstein added that the interest rate environment forms “a very important piece of the momentum that we hope to see going into next year.”
During the interview, Alperstein also discussed demand drivers fueling the data center sector, as well as the outlook for the office, retail, and senior living sectors.
Alperstein also discussed the shortage of affordable housing.
“As an industry, we haven't had a lot of solutions for solving what is a very significant challenge. And part of that relates to local government, local regulations, and the ability for public and private to work together to create new supply,” he said. “It'll be interesting to see as we head into 2025 and the new administration, how much of the conversation around housing is focused at the federal level versus the state and local level because we're going to need both given the feedback we hear.”