CRE Brokers Limit Face-to-Face Meetings and Conference Attendance
Lower interest rates are mitigating the impact of the virus’ impact on deal activity, CRE brokers say.
March 16, 2020 | Sebastian Obando | National Real Estate Investor
The rapid spread of COVID-19 is causing deals to break down and firms to cancel attending upcoming conferences (when those conferences haven’t been cancelled altogether, that is), according to industry sources. And that was the case last week, before many states and cities began closing schools and unrolling strict measures on what businesses should remain open in the coming weeks and months.
“We just had a deal die—single-tenant industrial building that a client was under contract to purchase,” says Shlomi Ronen, principal at Dekel Capital, an investment bank focused on capital market advisory and private equity in commercial real estate. “The tenant’s stock declined significantly over the last week and the sponsor got cold feet.”
Several industry conferences have already been cancelled and Marcus & Millichap is considering each event from here on out on a case-by-case basis, according to John Chang, senior vice president and national director of research services with the brokerage firm. “There are many cases where face-to-face meetings are not required and will likely not take place while the spread of the coronavirus is a significant issue,” he says.
