Western States Commercial Real Estate Finance 2025 – Key Takeaways

By Maura Hudson, Chief Marketing Officer 

Last week, industry leaders gathered at the Western States Commercial Real Estate Finance (CREF) 2025 conference in Las Vegas to network and discuss emerging trends, challenges, and innovative strategies shaping the future of the sector. The following key takeaways capture the insights and forward-looking perspectives shared by experts throughout the event. 

Competitive Edge: Leveraging Marketing Innovation to Drive Business Growth 

• According to Deloitte’s 2025 CRE Outlook, 68% of CRE executives are investing in digital marketing and branding to attract new business. 

• With interest rate fluctuations, shifting investor expectations, and the rise of AI, firms are rethinking how they position themselves and engage clients. 

• With all technology advancements, the core elements of successful marketing remain the same – relationship development, expertise sharing, and being authentically present when new opportunities appear. 

• List management, LinkedIn relationship development, maintaining consistent messaging, scaling technology use all represent both challenges and opportunities for the profession. 

• Using tools and resources that help colleagues be present, a helpful source of information, a volunteer leader, and a tailor of audience content can build greater opportunities for business growth. 

Has the CRE Investment Market Turned the Corner? 

• Investor caution remains high, but are also adaptable and are finding they are running out of time and are looking for opportunities. 

• Commercial real estate liquidity remains healthy. Many lenders are becoming more active.  

• Upcoming Federal Reserve rate decisions and how the market responds to new treasury issuance will dictate new market directions.  

• Mortgage rates have come down recently as the 10-year treasury eased, offering investors positive leverage on a range of acquisition opportunities.  

• Landlords and investors are starting to open their wallets again, and are more optimistic despite some fundamental indicators. 

• Although a variety of forces have raised short-term uncertainty, commercial real estate continues to offer a promising long-term performance outlook. 

Permanent Financing 

• CMBS is making a comeback. Spreads in this space have tightened, making this an attractive, non-recourse option again.  

• After the last three years with rates rising, the mindset of lenders and investors turned toward shorter term bridge deals, with a flexible prepay. 

• Banks are being selective, and with the right sponsors and assets, they may be aggressive on spreads. 

• The debt fund world is increasingly liquid, and this is their year of opportunity if the spirit is willing. 

• Insurance companies are generally active and in many cases have a higher percentage of funds to lend than in 2024. 

Structured Financing & Bridge Lending 

• Bankers and brokers are seeing a tremendous amount of recapitalization, with or without cash being brought to the table. 

• It is a good time for bridge lenders to be aggressive and that suggests a fresh start. 

• There are more requests for bridge refinances. This can be a sign of an unhealthy market. 

• Micro-cycles and micro-trends are happening in all property types and markets.  

• An exit strategy should not be just about rent growth.  

• Markets are important – those that are successful consider secondary as well as primary market options, especially for multifamily assets. 

• Land deals are challenging to complete given cashflow and exit strategy limitations 

• Borrower advice:  

• Shop your loan – everything is custom and nuanced, and not all lenders consider alike.  

• Do proper due diligence on lenders – ask for references. 

• Overcommunicate with your lender – transparency is key in overcoming obstacles. 

Cutting Through: Leading & Lending During Unprecedented Uncertainty 

• Markets may not agree with the Fed, and that’s not unusual. 

• One positive coming out of Covid and subsequent uncertainty – it bred diversity in financing various asset types. No longer was the media painting funding of asset classes with a broad brush – markets, submarkets and more specific assets within classes had different financial models. 

Construction Lending 

• Speakers highlighted the difficulty of launching new development projects due to a lack of equity and stagnant rent growth, making underwriting more conservative and deals harder to pencil out. 

• Refinancing is dominating the conversation, as construction starts slow and borrowers look to restructure existing debt. 

• Lenders are increasingly focused on risk-adjusted returns, with tighter covenants and more scrutiny on sponsor experience and project feasibility.