A full house filled the University Club in downtown Chicago for the 9th annual National Net Lease Summit held July 27 by REjournals. And the mood? Optimistic but cautious.
Interest rates, of course, were on the minds of both attendees and speakers. And why not? Higher interest rates have made closing deals more challenging and have slowed deal activity throughout the country, including in the net lease space.
On the positive side, speakers did predict that better times are ahead for the net lease market. The hope is that the Federal Reserve Board is finally done with its series of interest-rate hikes. If the board is, that can bring stability back to the market. And it might result in an increase in sales and leasing activity.
No one, though, would argue that the past year-plus hasn’t been a challenging one. Sellers and buyers still have vastly different expectations on how much commercial real estate should cost today. And until this changes, net lease sales, especially, will remain sluggish when compared to recent years.
