Hello, Commercial Real Estate Pros! 🏢

If you’ve been keeping an eye on the shifting landscape of commercial real estate—or you’re in the thick of it—this week’s newsletter is packed with the insights you need to stay sharp.

From tactical branding tips for becoming your city’s go-to CRE expert to deep dives into how AI and macroeconomic forces are reshaping the entire industry, we’ve pulled together content that speaks to both your day-to-day hustle and your long game.

Whether you're a broker, investor, or strategist, this is your weekly dose of intel to help you lead with confidence and clarity in 2025.

📰 Upcoming in this issue

• The 5-Step Playbook to Becoming a Local CRE Powerhouse 🏙️

• Data, Deals & Disruption: The Tech Trifecta Reshaping CRE 🧠📍

• Shifting Foundations: What’s Shaping CRE Strategy in 2025 🏢📉

📈 Trending news

• Five Years After COVID, CRE Enters Its Experience Era

• CRE Holds the Line in a Shifting Market

• When Prices Rise, What Happens to Commercial Real Estate?

The 5-Step Playbook to Becoming a Local CRE Powerhouse 🏙️ watch the full 8.5-min video here

Video published: March 31, 2025

In How To Become A Local Commercial Real Estate Expert? by Raphael Collazo, we dive into the tactical blueprint for building serious credibility in your local commercial real estate market.

Collazo doesn’t just talk theory—he shares the exact playbook that helped him go from local broker to known expert in Louisville. His strategy? Daily market immersion, visual content creation, newsletters, and smart use of public data—all designed to position you as the go-to source in your city.

Whether you're brand new to CRE or looking to scale your brand, these five moves are pure gold.

Key Takeaways:

• 🗂 Master your market (1:00): Study daily listings, comps, and lease rates—until you know your area better than Google.

• 📊 Turn data into content (2:30): Use Canva to transform market stats into social-ready visuals and videos—build trust by showing, not telling.

• 📬 Start a monthly newsletter (3:30): Share local CRE news, your listings, economic insights, and recent comps. Readers will remember.

• 🏗 Profile developments & local news (5:45): Share bite-sized updates from your city’s business journal—these posts drive massive engagement.

• 🎥 Make instructional videos (7:10): FAQ-style clips on CRE topics turn you into the face of real estate expertise in your town.

Data, Deals & Disruption: The Tech Trifecta Reshaping CRE 🧠📍 read the full 1,088-word article here

Article published: April 2, 2025

I just read How AI, Big Data and Location Intelligence Are Transforming Commercial Real Estate by World Business Outlook, and if you’re in the CRE space and still think market instincts alone are enough—you’re already behind.

This article is a high-voltage deep dive into how cutting-edge tech like AI and location intelligence is flipping the CRE game on its head. Platforms like Realmo are arming investors and brokers with real-time data and hyper-local insights that slice risk, unlock value, and automate the boring stuff.

From AI-powered valuation models to real-time sentiment analysis and geographic heat maps, the message is clear: the age of gut-feel dealmaking is over.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧮 AI now automates key financial ratios: Debt-to-income and loan-to-value are calculated instantly to streamline underwriting and minimize risk.

• 🗺 Location intelligence = strategic weapon: QSRs use it to map demand, while banks use it to plan branch locations based on real estate trends.

• 📊 Predictive analytics drive pricing decisions: AI helps retailers forecast demand, set prices, and even automate promotions in real-time.

• 🔐 Scalable tech and data security are non-negotiable: Without strong infrastructure and trust, AI and Big Data strategies fall flat—fast.

Shifting Foundations: What’s Shaping CRE Strategy in 2025 🏢📉 read the full 1,093-word article here

Article published: April 1, 2025

I just read Commercial real estate: Five things we believe, five we’re debating by Invesco, and if you're a long-term investor in commercial real estate, this one is a must-digest strategic briefing.

Mike Bessell and Mike Sobolik lay out the tectonic shifts reshaping the CRE landscape—from interest rates to climate to geopolitics—while being refreshingly candid about the uncertainties. They split their view between five solid beliefs (like the end of zero interest rates and climate’s rising role in real estate risk) and five open debates, like whether tech demand will remake sector utilization or if capital flows will shrink in a more fragmented world.

The article reads like a survival guide for navigating volatility without overreacting to short-term noise.

Key Takeaways:

• 🧭 Zero-interest rates are gone for good: Expect sticky inflation and long-term rate normalization, reshaping investment strategy and property pricing fundamentals.

• 🌎 Global growth is de-synchronizing: Diverging national policies and trade tensions make localized strategies more critical than ever for CRE portfolios.

• 🌱 Climate risk now equals investment risk: Fixed assets like property are increasingly exposed to location-specific threats like wildfires and floods.

• 🧠 Tech’s real estate impact is still evolving: From the rise of life science facilities to shifting workplace use, innovation is driving uncertainty—and opportunity.

Why It Matters

The commercial real estate world isn’t just evolving—it’s transforming. Today’s top performers aren’t just outworking their peers—they’re out-learning and out-adapting them.

This week’s stories show us exactly that: how modern CRE pros are mixing market knowledge with tech innovation and long-term thinking to stay ahead. Whether you're building local trust or betting big on data, these shifts are the new table stakes.

Now’s the time to lean in—because in 2025, the winners won't just be the ones who close deals, but those who see the next one coming.

Anne Morgan
Editor-in-Chief
Commercial Real Estate Weekly