The PERE Podcast

PEI Group

The PERE Podcast features a weekly discussion between members of our senior editorial team spanning formation, strategy and deployment, and regularly draws from the ongoing coverage of PERE, as well as affiliate titles PERE Credit and PERE Deals. We also occasionally host sponsored interviews providing analysis-led commentary about the biggest events in private real estate capital markets around the world. Visit perenews.com, peredeals.com and perecredit.com for more.

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#96
Wednesday · 23 min
‘No money without exits’: Real estate’s capital crunch looms at Expo Real
The annual Expo Real conference has long been a key opportunity to assess the general outlook for Europe’s private real estate markets. Among the more noticeable shifts at this year’s event was its billing, for the first time, as a “real assets” trade show. The continued rise of infrastructure as an institutional asset class was just one reason why this year’s Expo Real conference was characterized by the feeling that real estate is fighting for its place in investors’ portfolios. Fresh back in PERE’s London newsroom from their time at the Messe München, our senior editor Evelyn Lee, credit editor Samantha Rowan and senior equity reporter Silvia Saccardi joined The PERE Podcast to share their observations from the Expo halls and meetings with top executives from across the private real estate capital markets. Listen in for insights on how managers and investors are adjusting their plans in a shifting macro environment, plotting new expansions despite the uncertainty and leaning into strategies that can stand out at a difficult time for capital raising.
#95
September 30 · 23 min
BlackRock's Wei Li: Private real estate must transcend traditional labels
In the second keynote interview from PERE's annual Europe Forum in London, BlackRock chief investment strategist Wei Li sat down with PERE editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to unpack where private real estate stands relative to other assets in institutional portfolios, and where it’s headed. Few voices command as wide a view of the private markets universe as Li’s. Her calls, often made on behalf of the world’s largest asset manager, help shape the guidance institutional investors rely on to build and manage portfolios across numerous asset classes. That made her the natural choice to weigh in on where real estate sits relative to everything else competing for institutional capital. This episode carries that conversation in full. Li discusses the strain that AI-driven spending is placing on other less-exposed areas of the market, a dynamic she describes as producing real “excruciation,” compounded by political friction and unfavorable press coverage of the burgeoning data center market. She also makes the case that traditional asset class labels matter less than they used to, arguing investors should look past broad categories like “real estate” and dig deeper into the specific themes underpinning a particular investment or exposure. As for where property fits into that framework, Li says the asset class earns its place when it intersects with major structural trends or delivers cashflow that diversifies investors away from the market’s dominant storylines. This is the second half of a two-part keynote series recorded at PERE Europe. Listen here for the first installment, featuring Norges Bank Investment Management’s Alex Knapp.
#94
September 23 · 16 min
NBIM’s Knapp: ‘You’ll see Norges do things it hasn’t historically done’
PERE’s annual Europe Forum in London brought together some of the region’s largest and most influential investors and managers to discuss where private real estate is headed – from capital flows and consolidation to how allocators are rethinking risk across sectors, geographies and investment structures. Among the standout sessions was a keynote interview with Alex Knapp, global head of real estate at Norges Bank Investment Management, manager of the world’s largest sovereign wealth fund. Speaking with PERE senior editor Evelyn Lee, Knapp laid out how NBIM, which holds roughly $60 billion in public and private real estate, is taking a more dynamic approach to the asset class after significantly widening its investment mandate. On this episode of The PERE Podcast, host McKenna Leavens brings listeners into that conversation, which also covers NBIM’s recent majority-stake purchase of eight shopping centers in Spain, a roughly €1.4 billion deal that he calls “the tip of the iceberg” for the fund's broader property ambitions. Knapp also breaks down the criteria NBIM is using to evaluate managers in pursuit of operational excellence, specialism and alignment as it seeks to scale its portfolio and revamp performance after multiple years of “mixed returns” from real estate. For more from Alex Knapp, read PERE’s September issue cover story here.
#92
September 14 · 28 min
'Sustainable assets are better credit risks': The case for C-PACE
This episode is sponsored by CounterpointeSRE Despite the politicization of climate strategies in the US, the sustainable lending market continues to grow. Cumulative funding provided through the C-PACE green lending mechanism has reached over $10 billion. Meanwhile, the deals have grown bigger – regularly exceeding $100 million – as C-PACE has evolved from a niche funding mechanism into an established element of the capital stack. In this special episode of The PERE Podcast, we’re joined by three guests from CounterpointeSRE, an asset manager of debt investments secured by sustainable real estate: Christopher Hoeffel, chief operating officer; Mary-Stuart Freydberg, head of research and sustainability; and Michele Pitale, the firm’s head of C-PACE. Hoeffel identifies ongoing demand for sustainable financing solutions to inject additional liquidity into the capital stack in situations where higher interest rates have stretched property owners’ finances. Despite adverse headlines around ESG, real estate investors realize that sustainable assets offer more durable cashflows, argues Freydberg. Meanwhile, overly prescriptive regulatory frameworks are gradually being superseded by a more market-oriented approach. Pitale charts the expansion of C-PACE financing, with most US states having now adopted the public-private mechanism, which enables owners to fund energy efficient upgrades, paid back through their property taxes. Better understanding of C-PACE is fueling investor demand to maximize the size of their loans, says Hoeffel, with a billion-dollar transaction potentially in the cards. All views of CounterpointeSRE Employees and the guests on this podcast are solely their opinions and do not reflect the opinions of CounterpointeSRE. You should not treat any opinions expressed by CounterpointeSRE or guests as specific endorsement to make a particular investment. References to any securities are or investments are for informational purposes only, and do not constitute an investment recommendation or offer to provide investment advisory services. Any past performance discussed is not indicative of future results, and please keep in mind that investment in a fund entails a high degree of risk, including the risk of loss.
#91
September 8 · 29 min
The carbon question: Is real estate mispricing climate risk?
This episode is sponsored by Bouwinvest and Arrow Global Once treated as an obligation, sustainability has now become critical to the investment thesis. As recent global heatwaves have revitalised discussion around the topic, real estate is confronting the ramifications of climate trends. The industry faces both transition and physical climate risks, directly linking asset performance to sustainability. As a result, managers and investors can no longer treat it simply as a compliance issue. They must carefully evaluate valuations, closely consider the role of resilience and adopt a long-term perspective. In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Timothy Prescott, manager of ESG at Bouwinvest, and Paul Woods, director with the ESG and sustainability team at Arrow Global, delve into how investors are reacting to the evolving sustainability landscape. They challenge the practice of treating individual components of ESG as isolated categories, as well as the view that reporting is independent of investment outcomes. Their insights highlight how sustainability can supplement value-creation strategies throughout the lifecycle.
#93
September 4 · 35 min
PERE Core 100: Marking a cyclical low for private real estate
It is “Core Week” at PERE as we mark the release of our inaugural PERE Core 100 list of the industry’s top fundraisers for core and core-plus strategies globally with a range of accompanying interviews and analysis. The debut ranking found that the top 100 managers focused on real estate’s lowest risk-return profiles raised a combined $223 billion in aggregate capital for such strategies over the last five years. It is a useful benchmark against which future iterations of the PERE Core 100 will be measured, but that is not stopping us from gleaning some predictions about where the asset class is headed. In this episode, host Greg Dool chats with PERE editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and contributing reporter Kyle Campbell to break down the genesis of the Core 100, the research and methodology that went into it, and some of the biggest takeaways from the ranking’s first edition. We also sit down with Chad Tredway, global head of real estate at JPMorgan Asset Management – one of the top managers on the Core 100 list – for his take on where core and core-plus real estate sit in institutional portfolios and the types of factors that will drive investor appetite going forward.
#90
August 12 · 33 min
Tristan Capital’s Ric Lewis: ‘The market’s a closed circle’
With the real estate capital markets seemingly locked in a cyclical nadir, Europe-focused manager Tristan Capital Partners is forging ahead into what it expects to be a momentous period for its own real estate funds. The firm’s founder and executive chairman, Ric Lewis, is not taking that predicament lightly. “We’ve built high-quality assets, but there’s no market out there. It feels like you’re playing in a bubble and everyone feels the same way,” Lewis says. “There’s a lot of us very eager or anxious to move on – move our portfolios, move our business, move our capital raising on, but there’s no counterparty. Everyone lacks confidence.” In the eyes of Lewis – who founded Tristan in 2009 after previously launching its predecessor company, Curzon Global Partners, a decade earlier – the antidote to the private real estate’s multi-year malaise is what he calls “founder’s energy.” Even the most experienced managers, Lewis argues, need to adopt an entrepreneurial mindset at a time when the market demands change and innovation. In this episode, Lewis sits down with PERE editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to elaborate on that concept, as well as the thinking behind Tristan’s new and reimagined opportunity fund, as well as his views on leadership, Tristan’s evolution and its impact on the industry more broadly.
#89
July 28 · 32 min
Fifth Wall’s Wallace: ‘SpaceX is the next iteration of real estate as an industry’
Market watchers are closely tracking the rise and fall of SpaceX’s share price a month after the firm raised $75 billion in a historic initial public offering fueled by, among other things, the prospect of data centers built in space. But in the eyes of Fifth Wall’s Brendan Wallace, the event will have equally loud reverberations in the private markets – not just for what it could mean for digital infrastructure, but what it could mean for the way we think about commercial real estate more broadly. “I think SpaceX is actually very relevant,” says Wallace, chief executive and chief investment officer at the real estate and technology-focused venture firm. “I think it’s the next iteration of what real estate means as an industry, and I think it’s forcing the real estate industry to grapple with that existential question.” In this episode, Wallace sits down with PERE's editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse to discuss the private real estate angle to SpaceX’s public-market splash as the basis for a broader discussion about real estate’s ongoing evolution as an institutional asset class, and where its next frontiers could be. Wallace also shares some of the rationale behind his firm’s latest and largest investment yet – a $135 million commitment to Atoms, the industrial robotics start-up that raised a $1.7 billion funding round last week – and why that, too, is really a real estate venture.
#88
July 15 · 15 min
‘A much more dynamic affair’: Inside PERE’s next chapter
An exciting new era begins this week at PERE, and the latest episode of The PERE Podcast brings listeners inside our relaunch as an all-in-one intelligence platform covering the full breadth of the world’s private real estate capital markets. The award-winning editorial content, exclusive data and peer-to-peer network our members know and love are not going anywhere. Instead, we are combining our three specialized purviews across PERE, PERE Credit and PERE Deals into a single, integrated platform, including an upgraded, user-intuitive and customizable digital platform available at pei-privaterealestate.com. Listen as host Greg Dool sits down with editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and senior editor Evelyn Lee to preview some key features of the new platform. Also discussed is the market context behind this strategic move for PERE and how we hope it will help listeners, readers and members stay ahead of the competition. “Right now, private real estate professionals are looking for any edge they can have over the competition,” said Lee. “And we provide that edge through comprehensive information, cutting across various information silos.”
#87
June 18 · 17 min
PERE Credit 100 launch arrives at an industry-wide inflection point
The launch of the inaugural PERE Credit 100 ranking marks a defining moment for real estate private credit, reflecting both the sector’s sustained growth and its evolving role within institutional investor portfolios. To mark the milestone, PERE Credit hosted a launch breakfast last week at New York’s One Vanderbilt, bringing together leading market participants from across the industry. Senior lending and investor relations professionals took part in a panel moderated by Daniel Cunningham, PERE Credit’s Europe editor. On this episode of The PERE Podcast, host McKenna Leavens is joined by Cunningham and Samantha Rowan, editor of PERE Credit, to unpack the key takeaways from the event and explore where the private real estate credit market is heading next. Later in the episode, partner and head of real estate credit at KKR, Matt Salem, speaks to what he is hearing from his desk. The PERE Podcast has been granted permission to publish this exclusive excerpt from an off-the-record panel. The data underscores the sector’s momentum. The top 50 managers in the ranking raised $304.7 billion over the past five years, an 18 percent increase compared to the prior year’s cumulative total across the same base period. Yet, as Cunningham notes, the story behind the numbers is more complex than it first appears. While capital continues to flow into the sector broadly, real estate credit still lacks a clearly defined allocation within institutional portfolios, leaving it in a somewhat ambiguous position between asset classes like real estate equity and corporate credit. Looking ahead, the opportunity set for real estate credit appears compelling, supported by reset valuations and a significant wave of refinancing activity. However, uncertainty around interest rates, regulatory pressures and broader technological disruption continues to cloud the outlook. As PERE Credit expands its global footprint, the Credit 100 ranking offers a timely benchmark for a sector that is not only scaling, but still in the process of defining its role within the broader investment landscape.
#86
June 4 · 40 min
Digital Realty CEO Andy Power: Private fundraising is 'critical to the success of our company'
With digital transformation workflows already well engrained in data center demand, cloud computing needs growing by almost a third annually, and a world entering an era defined by artificial intelligence, Austin-based Digital Realty finds itself facing serious capital requirements. The world's biggest data center REIT by footprint, the firm is turning to private markets for a solution that can complement its already extensive use of public equity and debt markets. In the same month PERE broke news of the REIT’s plans to launch both open- and closed-ended private funds in each of the three major regions, CEO Andy Power spoke to The PERE Podcast about the thesis behind Digital Realty's plans amid the wider capital and opportunity context. Listen as Power speaks – in person – to PERE editor‑in‑chief Jonathan Brasse about the move and why private markets may be best positioned to support what the firm sees as an unprecedented wave of investment demand.
#85
May 19 · 22 min
‘A lot of unnecessary risk’: Lagging performance has managers’ losses under scrutiny
The post-covid era and its historically challenged fund vintages have invited greater scrutiny of managers’ track records and particularly their willingness to accept risk. As investors consider allocating more capital into an anticipated market upswing, one metric is increasingly catching their attention. Loss ratios – in short, the percentage of a fund or manager’s deals that result in losses – have long been tracked as a simple way of assessing how much risk a firm typically takes on. But they are now rising in prominence as fund exits reveal just how widespread the losses have been over the last five years. This episode takes listeners inside this month’s PERE cover story on loss ratios and how investors and their consultants are using them to take a more nuanced view of fund and manager performance. Listen as host Greg Dool speaks with PERE editor Evelyn Lee to break down the numbers and how allocators are interpreting them. Joining the episode is Jeff Giller, head of StepStone Real Estate, who shares his perspective on loss ratios and how they relate to other key metrics.
#84
May 8 · 23 min
Sixth Street’s Alvarado: Future winners ‘need to be more than capital’
It's difficult to have any conversation about private capital markets today without artificial intelligence adoption or private credit tension coming up. Whether the take is positive, neutral or negative, very real risks are leading more capital partners to look for alternative realms in which to diversify their holdings and line up management partners who excel beyond pure investment activity. For globally scaled managers in the space, such as Sixth Street, today’s market is shaping up to offer more opportunities, but the real estate market still has its own obstacles to grapple with. Whether vying for a slice of the senior housing market or simply trying to stave off turbulence until clear skies emerge, being an active dealmaker in 2026 carries its own set of hurdles. In this episode of The PERE Podcast, Marcos Alvarado, a partner at Sixth Street and its head of US real estate, gives us an inside look at how his team is approaching the investment puzzle as it relates to private real estate credit and equity markets. The global real estate investment manager has been looking beyond pure capital relations to further differentiate itself from contemporaries in the current market. As Alvarado notes, market participants are prioritizing firms that can add to their artificial intelligence understanding and implementation, enhance their portfolio allocation approach, and provide bespoke data insights beyond what is available in the mainstream.
#83
May 1 · 32 min
David Hodes: ‘Why Chatham? They leaned in heavily on technology’
Consolidation comes for every facet of the real estate landscape at some point, or so the most scaled participants and their acquisition targets often say. But in today’s market, specialized managers and their business partners are looking for more than just assets under management when evaluating inorganic growth opportunities. In the case of Chatham Financial's acquisition of Hodes Weill & Associates, broken exclusively last week by PERE, the value of connectivity was on full display. In this episode, David Hodes, co-managing partner and founder of the business named in his and Douglas Weill's sake, joins the discussion to unpack where the team sees opportunities moving forward, especially as repeat relations and data capabilities play more outsized roles in a perceivably tougher capital-raising environment. The blending of Chatham and Hodes Weill ultimately creates an all-weather outfit which will see real estate debt and equity lines merged into a larger combined force, a resounding theme playing out among fund managers in today’s market too. And with allocators wanting more concentrated partner rosters, such a combination is expected to make a smoother roadway for capital relations ahead.
#82
April 24 · 23 min
The cost of capital is climbing – and dealflow is feeling the strain
The real estate investment management market is coming to terms with its latest hurdle this week. The cost of debt has been on the rise for some time, as select managers have told affiliated PERE titles. And in today’s market, the cost of doing business may now be outweighing borrowers’ ability to keep pace and hold their investment strategies steady heading into this market cycle. Though the impact to date has been moderate, as highlighted earlier this week in analysis shared by PERE, central banks are moving toward more defensive positions. The possibility of rate cuts has diminished as a result, as noted in a March episode of The PERE Podcast. All this sets the table for how borrowers will need to reshape their own tack to keep lines open with debt capital markets while they have liquidity to keep capital moving. In this episode, PGIM’s head of real estate credit strategies Bryan McDonnell provides his perspective on the situation at hand. Be it at the Newark-based manager or beyond, real estate fund managers and investors are having to recalculate their basis and re-order how they navigate the next wave of acquisitions, holds and exits arriving in their pipelines.
#79
April 21 · 23 min
Arrow Global’s playbook for value-add returns in European hospitality
This episode is sponsored by Arrow Global European hospitality markets have thrived in the post-pandemic period, supported by a surge in international visitor numbers. And the warmer climate of Southern Europe makes countries like Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece enduringly popular with holidaymakers. Investment capital has flowed in, driving rapid institutionalization of a market formerly characterized by family-run hotels. Southern European hospitality markets offer a range of entry points for investors across the capital stack, from equity to senior credit, and the opportunity to make attractive income-driven returns. However, increased competition means bargains have become hard to find. In this special episode of The PERE Podcast, John Calvao, co-founder and head of real estate and hospitality at Arrow Global, offers insights on how to navigate the challenges of a market where execution risk is considerable and customers are demanding ever-increasing levels of service. He argues that local expertise and on-the-ground delivery capability are crucial to managing costs and ensuring that capex is spent where it generates the greatest impact on returns. Calvao also explains the importance of controlling resort “ecosystems” so that hotels, amenities and attractions like golf courses combine to generate year-round activity and maximize revenue.
#81
April 20 · 26 min
Latest fundraising data: volumes fall but less time is spent on the road
In this episode, the team looks at the preliminary findings of PERE's Q1 2026 fundraising report. Listen as host Lucy Scott discusses the trends behind these numbers with PERE senior reporter Christie Ou, Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham, and PEI research manager Kristina Savcenkova, who worked on the data. Among the headline themes is that fundraising is down, with managers raising just under $44 billion globally in Q1 2026, down from $81.4 billion a year earlier. While the drop partly reflects the absence of the mega-fundraisings seen in early 2025, it also points to a more selective market. Another key shift this quarter was the resurgence of value‑add strategies, which accounted for more than half of all capital raised. Debt strategies also remain in favor. However, despite subdued volumes, there were encouraging signs beneath the headline numbers. Funds are closing faster, and a growing proportion are meeting or exceeding their target sizes – suggesting that the market is finding its footing, even amid ongoing macro uncertainty.
#80
April 10 · 33 min
Realty Income’s Sumit Roy: Why private fundraising will now fuel listed property specialists
In this episode, we explore a trend reshaping the relationship between public and private real estate markets: listed REITs stepping confidently into private capital fundraising. While many first-time private managers continue to face an uphill battle in securing commitments, a different cohort is gaining meaningful traction. Last week, data center specialist Digital Realty raised $3.25 billion for its debut private fund, targeting hyperscale development in the US. The fundraising effort ranks alongside the top five private real estate funds closed so far this year. Meanwhile, sale-leaseback specialist REIT Realty Income is accelerating its own private market push. In just a few months, the REIT has launched two major private joint ventures, most recently with Apollo Global Management. In March, Apollo said it will deploy $1 billion for a 49 percent stake in the newly formed JV with Realty Income. Earlier this year, the REIT formed a US logistics venture with Singapore sovereign wealth fund GIC for a total capitalization of $1.5 billion. In this episode, Realty Income’s president and CEO Sumit Roy joins Jonathan Brasse, PEI’s editor-in-chief, real estate, to unpack how scale, performance, track record, sector specialization and meaningful co-investment are in line with investor demands. Roy also reveals how the firm plans to double, or even triple, its private partnerships by this time next year. The discussion points to a shift that the market is increasingly seeing unfold: more specialist listed REITs are becoming suitably positioned to follow in the footsteps of firms like Realty Income and Digital Realty, becoming a new type of contender in private real estate fundraising in the process.
#78
April 3 · 18 min
Piecemeal over portfolios: Selective industrial buys and exits show a sharpshooting template ahead
The institutional real estate fund management world is taking this market cycle as a moment to recompose itself. And over the last week, a clear theme of reflection has emerged: industrial portfolios will need to be fine-tuned to prepare for a real estate reset over the next five years. The days of simply buying, financing, holding and selling have long been gone even within the most favorably viewed asset categories. The industrial sector is currently presenting a compelling case study for how the most scaled names are actively revisiting their holdings. Often, a blend of acquisitions, debt packages and exits are being assembled any given week to continually sharpen industrial sector exposure. Last week, EQT Real Estate’s industrial reconfiguration was on display. As reported in PERE Deals, the firm bought nine industrial buildings across Southern New Jersey from New York Life Investment Management for about $309 million – adding about two million square feet of prime industrial space to its portfolio. By the end of the week, EQT found itself on the other side of the table. The firm closed a $650 million sale to Ares Management that included 36 industrial assets across 13 states, offloading equally prime pieces in its portfolio. The net result: a more concentrated stateside industrial footprint in what is still regarded as one of the best categories for Class A trades and financings. EQT’s recalibration is not happening in a vacuum compared with other real estate equity managers. Blackstone, alongside its Link Logistics subsidiary, closed a $163.1 million purchase of a four-warehouse portfolio from Clarion Partners in South Florida this week. As seen in previous reports, Blackstone had been reducing its industrial concentration across the region and was arguably in a selling stance – having shed more than $1 billion-worth of industrial assets across South Florida from 2024 onward. Aasif Bade, founder and chief executive officer at Ambrose, joins us this week to further unpack how industrial sector investors are approaching the sector to land prime opportunities across primary, secondary and tertiary geographies. As he notes, even within individual cities, industrial investment opportunities can look vastly different because of the most familiar refrain for evaluating industrial deal potential: location. All this sets the stage for a sector that is now having to compete for investor attention and electrical grid capacity alongside data center strategies, the latter of which took the top spot for sector-based strategy raises according to PERE's full-year fundraising report for 2025.
#75
March 31 · 27 min
'A golden period': Seizing the moment in European real estate credit
This episode is sponsored by LaSalle and Nuveen Real Estate Liquidity is returning to European real estate credit markets. Growing confidence that interest rates have stabilized and prices have reset is encouraging debt investors to provide a steady flow of capital to sponsors. And that is helping to kickstart transaction activity. European banks are back with an appetite for new business. That means competition between lenders is heating up, especially to provide low-risk senior finance. Fewer lenders are stepping forward to finance more complex situations, though, creating an opening for debt funds as the market regains momentum. In this special episode, recorded in January 2026, Isabelle Brennan, senior managing director at LaSalle, and Christian Janssen, head of real estate debt for Europe at Nuveen Real Estate, pinpoint the lending opportunities available to private credit providers as the market enters a new cycle. The conditions are finally in place to generate an increase in borrowing for new transactions, not just refinancings, Brennan suggests. Meanwhile, lower pricing for loan-on-loan finance has seen an increase in the use of back leverage, which is helping debt funds generate attractive equity-like returns. Macroeconomic uncertainty caused the market to stall briefly in 2025, but the year ended with a surge of activity, says Janssen, and that has continued into 2026.

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