The PERE Podcast

The fraught macroeconomic climate and its impact on property markets has been a regular topic of The PERE Podcast as investors allocate capital in a deglobalizing world. This week the spotlight is on geopolitics, as escalation in the Middle East and rising defense budgets in Europe portend significant consequences for global property markets. On this week’s episode, host Greg Dool sits down with PEI’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, PERE Deals reporter Sarah Marx and Real Estate Capital Europe deputy editor Lucy Scott for a look at how private real estate investors and managers are adapting. We also feature parts of an exclusive interview with François Trausch, chief executive of PIMCO Prime Real Estate, who shares context around the Newport Beach, California-based asset manager's latest white paper Bend, Not Break: Investing in Real Estate Amid Economic Uncertainty. What might rising tension mean for inbound investment in the Middle East? Will increased spending on defense and infrastructure, as pledged by NATO members this week, create opportunities for fund managers? Tune in for what we are hearing this week from market participants as the situation unfolds. Listen above and tune in next week for the full interview with Trausch.

In this episode, we break down the key takeaways from the PERE Network Europe Forum 2025. Some 200 market participants representing private real estate’s top institutional investors, asset managers, lenders and advisers came together at the two-day event in London last week to trade insights and strategies amid rapidly changing global property markets, and we have all the details. Listen as host Lucy Scott sits with PEI’s real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and Real Estate Capital Europe editor Daniel Cunningham to explore the conference’s biggest themes, including Europe’s position as a beneficiary of shifting capital flows, where managers are finding opportunities in market volatility and the types of strategies that are resonating most with institutional investors. The wide-ranging conversation features mentions of the perspectives shared by conference speakers including Brookfield chief executive Bruce Flatt, Blackstone managing director David Gorleku, Patron Capital partner Henry Randolph, Ontario Teachers Pension Plan senior managing director Jenny Hammarlund and many more. Enjoy the dispatch, and catch last week’s episode featuring Flatt’s fully unabridged keynote talk here.

This episode is sponsored by Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors The Dutch residential market has remained resilient despite economic turbulence and rising interest rates and is now emerging as a prime destination for international investors. In this episode, Paul van Stiphout of Bouwinvest Real Estate Investors and Jorrit Arissen of Van Lanschot Kempen Investment Management unpack the forces driving the market’s strength – from a deep-rooted rental culture and robust occupancy levels to increasing demand for senior and student housing. With the Netherlands facing a housing shortfall, Van Stiphout and Arissen discuss how foreign capital will be essential to bridge the gap. They also explore how demographic trends and public funding cuts are creating opportunities in niche sectors, such as senior living, which saw investment jump to €724 million in 2024.

Bruce Flatt, CEO of Brookfield Asset Management, shares his wealth of experience in real estate investment strategies. He discusses the growing importance of unlisted property in institutional portfolios and how to adapt to current market challenges. Flatt highlights Brookfield's innovative capital solutions and their role in managing risk. The conversation also dives into the potential of artificial intelligence in investment, showcasing its benefits for decision-making and operational efficiency. His insights offer a forward-looking perspective on navigating the dynamic real estate landscape.

The latest PERE 100 and 200 rankings of private real estate’s top fundraisers, out this week, reflects a changed reality for managers in an increasingly competitive capital-formation environment. For one thing, lengthier fundraising timelines – and ever-larger fundraising targets – contributed to an unprecedented level of year-to-year volatility throughout the list and even within the top 10. And a sustained wave of M&A activity involving managers up and down the ranking is set to continue shaking things up in the years ahead. On this episode of The PERE Podcast, we break down the main takeaways from this year’s ranking and share excerpts of interviews with John Carrafiell, co-chief executive of third-ranked PERE 100 manager BGO, and Robert-Jan Foortse, head of European property at pension investor APG, for insight on how top managers and their institutional investor clients are operating in a shifting fundraising environment.

This week, PERE revealed that Chicago-based alternatives specialist Harrison Street held a first close for its 10th flagship US real estate fund, Harrison Street Real Estate Partners X, with $1 billion in commitments – after just one month on the road. The fundraise comes as economic and geopolitical uncertainty threaten a potential real estate recovery. The speed of the first close, which brings Harrison Street a third of the way to its $3 billion hard-cap for HSREP X, is also notable when considering the average time most real estate funds spend in the market has stretched to 23 months, according to PERE’s latest fundraising report. In this episode, Lucy Scott, Greg Dool and PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery discuss why the fund – launched in April, per SEC filings – has attracted so much attention. We also hear from David Hodes, founder and co-managing partner of advisory boutique Hodes Weill & Associates, who tells PEI Group's real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse why Harrison Street's vision for its 10th US vehicle was able to tempt institutional investors, both old and new, to back it.

This episode is sponsored by LaSalle Debt Investors and Kayne Anderson In the wake of rising rates and falling transaction volumes, US real estate debt markets are undergoing a significant transformation. Traditional lenders – especially regional banks – have stepped back, opening space for private credit providers to play a larger role. As a looming wave of loan maturities approaches, participants are preparing for both stress and opportunity. They're deploying capital selectively, often in the form of rescue financing, while building platforms that can flex across cycles. What emerges isn’t a market in freefall or overdrive, but a reset where discipline and structure matter more than ever. Joining us in this episode is David Selznick, chief investment officer of Kayne Anderson’s real estate group, and Craig Oram, president and fund manager at LaSalle Debt Investors. They share how their firms are adapting by focusing on refinancings, leaning into necessity-based assets like multifamily and industrial, and underwriting with more scrutiny than ever before.

How should investors think about private real estate portfolio construction amid today’s highly uncertain macroeconomic volatility? Brian Klinksiek, head of research and strategy at LaSalle Investment Management, has a compelling answer. The Chicago-headquartered manager's latest research note – The Trade War, Relatively Speaking: Tariffs and Real Estate Fair Value – is the second of two papers looking at the subject of tariffs. It is a guide of key ideas for real estate investors – ideas that will hold true at a time when the future “steady state” of trade policy remains unknowable. In this episode, Klinksiek explains LaSalle's "theory of relativities" in conversation with Jonathan Brasse, PEI’s real estate editor-in-chief. This theory prioritizes diversification, a permanent allocation to private real estate credit, and being focused on aspects of the market that are not likely to change, no matter what comes next.

Brookfield Asset Management is nearing a final close on its largest real estate fundraise yet. The New York-based manager’s opportunistic Strategic Real Estate Partners V fund has raised $16 billion from institutional investors, and a further $2 billion is expected to come from private wealth investors and regional sidecars in the coming months, PERE understands. This is the biggest real estate fundraise since Blackstone Real Estate Partners X was closed in 2023, for which US manager Blackstone collected $30.4 billion in capital commitments. Brookfield's success comes as difficult times persist for fund managers. The latest PERE fundraising report revealed total capital commitments to private real estate funds declined for the third consecutive year, reaching $131 billion in 2024 – a 50 percent drop from the $256 billion raised in 2021. This episode delves into the details of Brookfield’s global fundraise. Listen as host Lucy Scott, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza discuss the significance of the fundraise and what it tells us about investor sentiment today. Also hear from Lowell Baron, president and chief investment officer of Brookfield’s real estate group, who shares insights on the markets that the firm is eyeing at a time of continued macroeconomic and geopolitical uncertainty. READ: The latest PERE fundraising report Correction: A previous version of this episode erroneously cited a transaction between Brookfield and Harrison Street in Q1 2025 for a US residential portfolio. Brookfield purchased a US student housing portfolio in December 2024, according to PERE Deals data, for which the seller is unknown.

After a six-month search, Norges Bank Investment Management has found its next global real estate chief: Alex Knapp, who joins after 17 years at Houston-based manager Hines, where he was chief investment officer for Europe. Starting next month, Knapp will take the helm of NBIM’s massive $70 billion global listed and unlisted real estate portfolio, managed on behalf of Norway’s $1.7 trillion sovereign wealth fund. But his duties in leading the manager’s property business will look a bit different from those of his predecessors – including the fact that Knapp will remain based in London, rather than Oslo. This episode spotlights the details of Knapp’s appointment and what it suggests about NBIM’s evolving investment strategy in the real estate sector. Listen as host Lucy Scott, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse, PERE editor Evelyn Lee and PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery break it all down, with a guest appearance from Serene Hamzawi, managing partner at executive search firm Sousou Partners. Read also: Norway’s sovereign wealth fund appoints Knapp as global real estate head