'It’s a really solid asset class': Private capital warms to affordable housing
A recurring theme in real estate private equity this year has been the proliferation of capital into so-called “niche” or alternative property types beyond the traditionally institutionalized sectors such as office, retail, industrial, multifamily residential or hotels.
But while much attention has been paid to the emergence of segments including data centers, student accommodations or outdoor storage, another area of rising conviction among both institutional investors and their asset managers is affordable housing – particularly in the US, where mounting supply shortages have evolved into what most observers describe as a crisis.
Increasingly, private market investors want to be a part of the solution, and a growing cohort of asset managers are devising ways to address the problem while also creating strong opportunities for risk-adjusted returns.
On this episode, co-host Greg Dool is joined by PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien for a look at why affordable housing is increasingly viewed as a strong match for institutional investment portfolios and the managers hoping to capture those allocations. We also hear from Alicia Glen, founder of New York-based private equity firm MSquared, which is currently raising its second impact-focused essential housing fund, in conversation with PERE Podcast co-host McKenna Leavens.
Further reading:
PERE: MSquared’s Glen: ‘We need to do things differently’ in affordable housing
PERE: CIM Group holds first close on debut fund focused on US affordability crisis
PERE Credit: Mamdani win underscores need for affordable, middle-income housing
National Association of Realtors: First-time home buyer share falls to historic low of 21%, median age rises to 40
American South Capital Partners announces $60 million first close of its third affordable housing fund
Federal Reserve Bank of New York: 2025 Case Study on Managers of Multifamily Affordable Housing Private Investment Vehicles
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PERE America 2025: 'Everyone will have an opportunity to outperform'
In this episode, host McKenna Leavens sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE editor-in-chief, and Evelyn Lee, PERE editor, to unpack the optimism circulating at PERE Network’s 20th annual America Forum, held earlier this week in New York City. The flagship event brought together a record-breaking number of industry leaders and investors across the private real estate landscape.
“Palpable optimism” is the way Brasse described the feeling in the air. Listen as he relays the growing confidence among participants that the worst of the capital markets dislocation is over. The podcast reflects on key themes contributing to a positive mood, including the expectation of a rebound in transaction activity and the growing prevalence of core risk-return strategies. Development is also becoming a talking point.
Listeners will also hear from Jesse Hom, chief investment officer of real assets and head of real estate credit at Blue Owl, who joined a panel discussing signs of a strong recovery in the market.
But there were also notable degrees of skepticism, as Lee explains. Despite improving supply-demand dynamics, there are still uncertainties around long-term interest rates, rising inflation and government deficits, leading some to feel the industry is not yet out of the woods.
Read also: PSP, La Caisse explore recalibration of property portfolios
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The '$1 trillion club': Evolving capital markets create a higher tier of managers
In this episode, host Greg Dool sits down with Jonathan Brasse, PERE's real estate editor-in-chief, for a deep dive into one of the biggest forces transforming the private markets landscape: manager consolidation.
The discussion explores why private market managers across asset classes are acquiring or partnering with other businesses in a bid to scale up, and what that means for investors and the markets they serve. The conversation hinges on the release of PEI Group's Private Markets 2030, a series that takes a look at the major forces shaping the alternative assets industry.
Listen as Dool and Brasse unpack the shifts fuelling consolidation. Among increasing demands for diversification and transparency, they focus on a major change in the sources of capital that support managers. For three decades, private markets have been fuelled by institutional investors. But as these institutions reach target allocations, two other sources of capital – private wealth and insurance capital – have emerged, with both the appetite for private market exposure and the means to access it.
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Understanding synthetic risk transfers: The financial tool reshaping real estate lending
In this special episode, the team explores how synthetic risk transfers, a financial tool used by banks to help them free up capacity for more lending, are growing in real estate.
Join Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham and deputy editor Lucy Scott as they discuss why an increasing number of real estate lenders – and real estate managers – are engaging in SRT trades, a topic also explored in REC Europe's deep dive here.
This episode comes as Aareal Bank confirms its first SRT trade, linked to a €2 billion portfolio of performing European commercial real estate loans.
Also read:
Real Estate Capital Europe: Deep dive: How synthetic risk transfers are bringing banks and non-banks together
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Is real estate’s allocation slide a brief dip or a sign of a larger rebalancing?
A multi-year slowdown in private real estate has prompted institutional investors to cut their average target allocation to the asset class for the first time in more than a decade. Is it merely a short-term setback for property fund managers, or a sign of a broader shift within institutional portfolios?
The historic reversal reported by Hodes Weill & Associates this week comes after the capital advisory firm had found a steady increase in average target allocations since 2013, when it began tracking them with an annual survey in partnership with Cornell University’s Baker Program in Real Estate. But those gains plateaued starting in 2022, and this year’s 10-basis-point dip suggests that the market effects of high interest rates, geopolitical concerns and the rise of other attractive alternative asset classes are far from over.
In this episode, PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery joins host Greg Dool to break down this year’s Allocations Monitor survey results, and contextualize the main takeaways. Hodes Weill co-founder Douglas Weill also shares his perspective on the results and what they might mean for private real estate fundraising moving forward.
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.
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