CRE Thought Leadership

Back when we were young, fresh-faced students coming out of school and entering the real world we likely had a basic understanding of investing that was limited to publicly traded stocks.  Then, as we matured, we all came to realize that investing in publicly traded stocks was only one of the many ways that we could invest our money in the hopes it would grow.  Such options are now more diverse and more available than ever and are no longer the exclusive domain of large investors and financial institutions. 

One such investment is commercial real estate.  This investment class typically takes significant amounts of capital and historically has been a relatively illiquid investment.  Over the years, however, those features have significantly changed, and now there are more ways to invest in commercial real estate than ever before. 

But before we discuss the ways you can invest in commercial real estate, it must be emphasized that all investments in commercial real estate are not equal.  It stands, as with all efficient markets, the greater the risk, the greater the reward (or loss).  Commercial real estate is no different.  And those risk profiles have designations that are common among most investment classes: debt and equity.

The Rise of a New Asset Class

Since the Great Financial Crisis, the low yield environment, as well as certain regulatory changes, have given rise to a previously lesser-known alternative asset class known as “private credit”.  Private credit funds target ownership in debt and debt-like instruments across various segments (corporate, consumer, real estate, litigation, life settlements, royalties, etc.) with the goal of generating high yields, mostly in the form of ordinary income, for their investors. 

Catching the Service Provider World Off Guard

As this asset class rose to popularity rather quickly, it seems to have caught the outside service provider world largely unprepared, having a lack of experience on how to manage, account, and administer this new asset class.  As a result, most service providers advising private credit managers defaulted to their knowledge of private equity fund formation and administration, resulting in many of these funds being structured like traditional private equity funds.