Top Takeaways: California MBA’s 2022 Western States CREF

The following are Slatt Capital’s primary takeaways from this week’s California MBA’s 2022 Western States CREF Conference held at the Aria Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas, Nevada.

• Attendance was over 800 people, up from approximately 600 in 2021. The attendees were positive about the commercial real estate space despite uncertainty in the market. The mood/energy at the conference as a whole was great.
• Interest rates are still quite a bit below the long-term average.
• US employment has recovered all pandemic losses—and some. The unemployment rate is currently floating around 3.7% (considered full employment).
• The commercial real estate vacancy rate is decreasing across the board except for office (which is also starting to improve).
• The average price is up—and rising—across the board on all commercial real estate property types.
• Frozen for much of the COVID pandemic—the hospitality space has thawed out and many lenders are now looking at deals.
• ​​​​​Bridge lending is becoming increasingly competitive.
• Less than 10% of companies believe that full-time (5 days/week) work will be their plan going forward. Hybrid work is here to stay.
• Commercial real estate yields are still a leading investment advantage

We would like to thank everyone at the California MBA for hosting such a wonderful event, and we look forward to seeing everyone next year.