The PERE Podcast

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

On the heels of PERE's exclusive report last week on New York-based manager StepStone Group raising the private real estate sector's largest-ever secondaries fund, we spotlight the massive capital haul and the emergence of real estate secondaries more broadly as a major fundraising theme in a time of market dislocation. Indeed, StepStone is not the only private real estate manager eyeing big opportunities in the once-nascent strategy. Its $4.5 billion fundraise for StepStone Real Estate Partners V bested a previous record set less than a year ago by Goldman Sachs Asset Management's Vintage Real Estate Partners III. Meanwhile, Brookfield is preparing to launch its second real estate secondaries vehicle after closing its first on $1.3 billion in commitments last August, and Neuberger Berman closed a $1 billion vehicle of its own in February. What is driving all of this momentum? A "perfect storm" of factors, including high interest rates, illiquidity and dislocation in capital markets, persistent inflation and, most recently, tariff disruption. Listen as host Greg Dool, PEI Group real estate editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE editor Evelyn Lee break it all down, with guest appearances from Secondaries Investor editor Madeleine Farman and Achal Gandhi, chief investment officer for indirect strategies at CBRE Investment Management.

As real estate investors scramble to size up the effects of tariffs on global markets, some of the earliest impacts are already emerging in the commercial mortgage-backed securities market. US manager Pretium Partners is reportedly pumping the brakes on a $778.5 million single-family residential securitization it had planned to price on April 24, while a report this week from ratings agency Scope Ratings suggests that tariffs could threaten a significant recovery in European CMBS issuance since the start of the year. On a new episode of The PERE Podcast, Lucy Scott is joined by Daniel Cunningham and Samantha Rowan – editors of Real Estate Capital Europe and PERE Credit, respectively – to break down the latest CMBS headlines and explore what it all means for borrowers and real estate debt investors going forward. Also sharing his perspective on the outlook is Benjamin Bouchet, a senior director at Scope Ratings and the author of its latest research report.

A long-awaited recovery in private real estate fundraising finally arrived in the first three months of 2025, with PERE’s latest report showing a year-on-year increase in capital allocations to the asset class for the first time since 2022. Now, as an oncoming trade war and inflationary pressure cloud the industry’s outlook, the question becomes: Will the recovery last? In this episode, PERE editors Jonathan Brasse, Charlotte D’Souza, Greg Dool and Evelyn Lee explore the biggest takeaways from PERE’s fundraising report – including the close of Blackstone’s largest-ever European vehicle – and break down the biggest factors that will impact allocations to the asset class going forward. Also sharing their perspectives on the real estate fundraising environment are Geoffrey Regnery, partner at Chicago-based manager Harrison Street, and Nancy Lashine, founder and managing partner of capital advisory firm Park Madison Partners.

Property investors gained some relief on Wednesday when US president Donald Trump announced a 90-day pause on his administration’s sweeping “Liberation Day” tariff hikes, but the outlook for global real estate markets remains anything but certain. As the prospect of a US-China trade war looms, private real estate managers and investors have been forced to reassess short-term business while adapting their longer-term strategies to a changing risk environment. But in times of volatility, there are also opportunities. On this episode, Greg Dool sits down with Jonathan Brasse, Evelyn Lee and Samantha Rowan to break down how market participants have responded to an unpredictable few weeks and what it all means for investment in the property sector moving forward.

Retail’s real estate resurgence is in the spotlight again as a pair of massive private-equity-backed deals target neighborhood shopping centers across the US. On the heels of Blackstone’s $4 billion take-private deal involving 93 grocery-anchored strip malls, fellow investment giants Goldman Sachs Asset Management and Ares Management are getting in on the action as well. As PERE reported last week, Goldman and Ares provided equity backing for Atlanta-based RCG Ventures’ $1.8 billion acquisition of a 100-asset shopping center portfolio from listed real estate investment trust Global Net Lease. Taken together, the two deals represent the transfer of nearly $6 billion-worth of US retail properties from publicly traded REITs to private investment vehicles, and they signify a major comeback for a property sector that had been largely exiled from institutional portfolios. On this episode, PERE Americas editor Greg Dool is joined by PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan and PERE Deals editor Guelda Voien to explore the numerous layers to the RCG, Ares and Goldman deal and shine a light on retail’s renaissance more broadly.

Against a backdrop of existential challenges to the decarbonization agenda in both the US and Europe, the 10th episode of The PERE Podcast examines whether the real estate industry is, as a consequence, shying away from its sustainability commitments. Listen as Lucy Scott, deputy editor of Real Estate Capital Europe; Randy Plavajka, deputy editor of PERE Credit; and Guelda Voien, editor of PERE Deals, break down how market forces are working to overcome an era of ESG backlash. In conjunction with PERE Credit's in-depth look this week at the latest issuance data for C-PACE – a form of finance for decarbonization upgrades in the US that is rapidly evolving – we ask whether this is likely to change in the current political climate. We then turn to Europe to discuss whether changes to key sustainability regulations are tempering ambitions to future-proof assets and mitigate the impacts of the climate crisis. Also read: Decarbonisation remains critical despite ESG backlash, say managers Real estate ESG professionals feel lost and burned out Real estate's 'mind blowing' climate financing need and other Cop29 takeaways

Achieving fundraising targets and substantially growing capital commitments from one vehicle to the next have become rare feats for private real estate managers, especially those lacking lengthy track records to fall back on. So when an emerging manager not only outraises its initial target by over 40 percent, but also quadruples the size of its predecessor vehicle, it is well worth a closer look. The latest episode of The PERE Podcast does just that, shining a light on PERE's exclusive report about Connecticut-based manager Jadian Capital lining up over $2 billion for its second opportunistic real estate fund – as PERE exclusively reported Friday – more than triple the size of the manager's inaugural vehicle, which it closed on $650 million in 2020. Listen as PERE senior reporter Harrison Connery breaks down Jadian's massive fundraise in conversation with PEI real estate group editor-in-chief Jonathan Brasse and PERE Americas editor Greg Dool, including insights from Jadian founder Jarrett Cohen on the manager's unique deployment strategy and why it resonated with institutional investors. Also read: "Jadian Capital lines up $2bn for second fund, 40% above target"

The annual MIPIM conference in Cannes is an important barometer of sentiment for the global real estate market. This year, seven of PERE’s journalists held a combined 100 meetings with leading managers in the real estate industry, spanning both the equity and debt markets. This access to a wide concentration of viewpoints provided the team with insight into how industry stakeholders are really thinking about capital raising and debt availability, as well as their strategies for survival in a climate of continued political and economic volatility. So, what did this year’s MIPIM tell us about the market that we didn’t already know? Listen as Lucy Scott, deputy editor of Real Estate Capital Europe, compares notes with PERE EMEA editor Charlotte D’Souza, PERE Credit editor Samantha Rowan and REC Europe editor Daniel Cunningham. Also read: PERE Credit: No black swans this time but macro fears temper optimism at MIPIM PERE Deals: MIPIM 2025: Beds, sheds and hand-on assets appeal most

American private equity has been storming into the UK-listed property sector this month with a series of takeover bids. On Monday, KKR and New York-based Stonepeak intensified their pursuit of London-listed healthcare real estate investment trust Assura, with the two managers advancing a £1.6 billion ($2.1 billion; €1.9 billion) cash offer. Meanwhile, Blackstone and Sixth Street sweetened their offer for London-based Warehouse REIT with a £470 million bid that was again rebuffed by the industrial investor. And on Tuesday, US-listed nursing home investor CareTrust REIT struck an $817 million agreement to acquire UK-listed Care REIT. What do these three developments, each of which involve US investors hunting publicly traded UK sector specialists, say about the state of the global real estate investment market? Listen as Jonathan Brasse, Evelyn Lee and Randy Plavajka break it all down on the latest episode of The PERE Podcast.