Commercial Real Estate Investment Conference Podcast (CREIC)

Two separate markets just sent the same signal.

Law firms are anchoring the premium office market, 21.7% of all leases above $100 PSF in Q1 2026. Meanwhile, San Francisco apartment rents are surging 7.7% year-over-year, with South of Market up 19.2% and Mission Bay up 15.8%. Quality assets are separating from everything else. Capital knows where to go. It's going to quality. It's going to scarcity. It's going to assets with pricing power. If you own mediocre real estate, you're in trouble. If you own quality real estate in a supply-constrained market, you're printing money. This is the conversation happening in the rooms...

Alternative Lenders Fuel CRE Financing Rebound

In Q1 2026, alternative lenders captured 53% of non-agency CRE loan closings, up from 19% a year ago. Banks got squeezed out by regulatory constraints and now sit at 22% market share. Non-banks move faster and are more flexible on structure, but charge higher rates and tighter covenants. Quality assets get funded. Mediocre deals struggle. The operators who understand where capital is coming from, how to structure deals for non-bank lenders, and the true cost of that capital are the ones deploying right now. The rest are sitting on the sidelines.

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Houston's onshoring boom is hitting record levels.

Supply chains are reshuffling. Capital is flooding into industrial real estate in Texas. But construction costs just jumped 6.2%. Energy prices are up. Steel is up. Lumber is up. The economics of building new industrial capacity to support onshoring are getting crushed. Developers trying to build new face margin compression. A project that penciled at 8% returns six months ago is now looking at 4% or 5%. Some deals don't pencil at all anymore. But existing industrial assets? That's where the real play is.

Operators with existing industrial in Houston are capturing...

Hudson Yards just hit full occupancy. Manhattan's biggest megadevelopment.

No office space left. That's huge. But what does that actually mean? It means trophy office is back. And it's not just a New York story. This is a bifurcation signal on steroids. While Hudson Yards is at full occupancy, distressed office investments hit 4.3 billion dollars in 2025. A decade high. So you've got two markets happening at the same time. Trophy assets thriving. Aging stock getting crushed. So capital is consolidating? Exactly. Flight to quality. The best buildings, the best locations, the best experiences—that's where serious money is...

Equinox just announced they're expanding into hotels, branded residences, and adaptive reuse projects.

Most people see this as fitness brand diversification. But wellness is becoming a capital allocation signal. The best operators in real estate aren't just building apartments or office space. They're building experiences. And capital is following that shift hard. Luxury properties are competing on wellness amenities now. Rooftop recovery centers. Spa amenities. Integrated fitness. These aren't nice-to-haves anymore - they're deal-makers. Properties without a wellness layer are getting repriced lower. It's a different kind of bifurcation. Used to be Class A versus Class B.<...

April 2026 brought a modest 0.2% month-over-month rent increase, but the year-over-year picture tells a different story.

National multifamily rents remain down 0.2%, with massive oversupply in the Sun Belt creating a bifurcated market. The numbers are stark: - 740,000 units currently in lease-up, mostly in the Sun Belt - Dallas vacancy at 12.2%, Houston at 19.5%, Austin at 16.7% - Austin rents down 4.3% YoY, Denver -3.6%, Tampa -3.4%, Phoenix -2.7% - Meanwhile, New York up 4.8%, San Francisco up 4.1%, Chicago up 3.3% Construction starts have collapsed from 2022 peaks, but the backlog from 2024-2025 is still hitting the market.

Expect 12-18 months of continued...

Luxury hospitality is having a moment right now that most people are completely missing. The data is clear. Luxury hotels are outperforming every other segment. RevPAR growth at the high end is crushing the rest of the market. Q1 2026 just came in. San Francisco luxury hotels up 31% RevPAR. Xenia Hotels raised full-year guidance.

RevPAR growth now expected between 2.75 and 5.25 percent. That's luxury performing while the broader market is flat. Here's what's happening. Affluent travelers are spending more. They're staying longer. They're choosing experiences over everything else. And the smart money knows this. Private equity is mobilizing. They...

Vacancy is stabilizing. That sounds good. But rent growth is still getting crushed. We're talking 0.5 percent monthly, one to two percent annually. That's the weakest spring gains since 2014.

Here's the real story: it's bifurcated. Forty-one of the fifty major markets are showing year-over-year rent improvement. But the Sun Belt is getting absolutely crushed. Austin, Phoenix, Denver, Atlanta seeing 15-21% rent cuts. Record vacancies. The post-pandemic construction boom is still delivering into softening demand. Austin alone went from massive permitting in 2024 to basically nothing in 2025. Ninety-seven percent collapse in permits. But developers are already planning 2026 starts for 2027 and 2028...

Alright, so here's what's happening in the apartment market right now, and it's actually good news for once.

Q1 apartment deliveries just hit a four-year low. We're talking about the fewest new units hitting the market in years. All those markets that got absolutely hammered with supply over the last couple years are finally getting a breather. The oversupply problem is starting to solve itself. Not because demand exploded. Because builders finally stopped swinging the hammer. Meanwhile, Blackstone just crossed 1.3 trillion in assets under management. You know what carried that entire quarter? Data centers and energy. Not...

Something fundamental is shifting in real estate right now, and most people are completely missing it.

Blackstone just hit 1.3 trillion in assets under management. Data centers carried the entire quarter. That's not a coincidence. That's a signal. The industry is being forced to rethink operations, strategy, and long-term survival. Technology adoption is accelerating. The Sun Belt isn't overbuilt. It's uneven. Metro-wide rent data is masking a sharp divide, and investors reading only the headline numbers are missing the actual play. Charlotte just climbed to number five in national CRE investment rankings. That's a city that wasn't even...

Texas is not just growing. Texas is outpacing the entire country. Houston industrial construction rose 7.1 percent quarter over quarter. The national average is 2.2 percent. That's more than triple the pace. 21.8 million square feet under construction in Q1. 24 percent preleased. Manufacturing is leading the charge with 21 percent of all leases. Grainger just broke ground on a 1.3 million square foot distribution center in Hockley. 400 jobs. Dallas is a different animal right now. The Texas Stock Exchange is launching in July with 275 million in backing from Charles Schwab, BlackRock, JP Morgan. They're trying to rival the NYSE. Class A office in Uptown...

There's a moment happening right now in the market that most people are completely missing.

Class A apartments are facing oversupply. Class C renters are getting squeezed. But Class B assets are quietly delivering the most stability. That's where the smart money is sitting. Florida is building more storage than any state in America. 55 million square feet of new storage coming online in 2026. The market is finally building like it actually learned something from the last boom. That's discipline. That's operators who understand cycles. Meanwhile, in New York, pension funds are pouring 4 billion dollars into affordable housing...

Adam breaks his silence on the AI tool he's been using religiously behind the scenes. This is his first public endorsement of Simtheory - the browser automation platform that actually delivers where others fall short.

In this special promotional episode, Adam explains why ChatGPT and Claude Native just don't cut it for serious operators who need to actually do things, not just talk about them. The speed difference is real. The privacy guarantees are contractual. And the multi-model flexibility means you're never locked into a single vendor.

Key points covered:

Big banks just posted their cleanest CRE numbers in years. Nonperforming loans fell at every major bank. Starwood REIT closed a 1.7 billion dollar refinancing for their Sun Belt workforce portfolio. Big money is chasing affordable units in growth markets. The capital sources moving real money don't want their names blasted everywhere. They want privacy. They want to know who's in the room. That's why CREIC is shifting to invite-only. Still 500 seats. Still free general admission. But you request your invitation now. The real players prefer privacy over everything else. The venue is invite-only. The attendee list is private. The...

The White House just reported a shortage of 10 million housing units in America, nearly 3x what Freddie Mac estimated. The best rental markets right now? The Upper Midwest, not where people expect. Texas job growth is back but with serious caveats. This is the moment. CREIC Miami is shifting to invite-only. There's serious professional athlete capital coming to the building. NFL? Could be. NBA? Don't rule it out. The venue won't be blasted publicly. If you want to know where it is and what type of capital is coming, you need to request your invitation. 

Episode Sponsor: R...

Three markets just became the hardest places to rent in America: Chicago, Miami, and Wichita.

This episode breaks down what's happening in each market, where capital is flowing, and why operators are making aggressive moves right now without waiting for perfect conditions. Industry events that used to bring serious operators together are mostly gone. There's a vacuum. The people winning are those with strong networks who can move fast. That's why C.R.E.I.C. exists- to create the gathering point where operators, capital, and deal flow converge.

Episode Sponsor: Rise 48 Equity
...

We spent the last week digging into what's actually happening in the market. Not the headlines. The real data. And what we found is wild. Distressed office sales just topped $5 billion in foreclosure and bankruptcy-related trades in 2025 alone. 2026 is already outpacing that. Over 200 distressed office properties changed hands. Buildings that were worth nine figures five years ago are now trading at fractions of those prices. Downtown Chicago towers under $30 per square foot.

Denver and D.C. assets at prices that would have been unthinkable a decade ago. New York is converting its way through the problem. David...

John Todderud, multifamily syndicator with 40 years in the game, went from writing code at Boeing and Fortune 500 tech companies to writing checks in real estate. Early in his conference strategy, he thought the play was to work the room, meet new people, cast the widest net possible. But he realized the actual deals, the real money, weren't coming from strangers met once in a hallway. They were coming from people he kept seeing. Over and over. Depth, not breadth. And here's the thing nobody's talking about. If you've been in commercial real estate and capital raising for any amount...

Q1 2026 office market breakdown: U.S. office vacancy hit 21%, a record high and four full points above pandemic lows.

Simultaneously, tenants signed 120 million square feet of new leases - a 25% jump over Q1 2025 and the highest single quarter since mid-2018. This episode breaks down the paradox. The leasing surge wasn't driven by blockbuster deals but by an unusually high number of smaller transactions. Average new lease sizes remain 15% below pre-pandemic norms. Tenants are taking less space, committing to shorter terms, and moving into spec suites. This is flight to quality playing out in real time. Financial services...

This episode introduces the three people behind CREIC.

Cameron Iuvancigh from Thunder Bay, Ontario - working with TribeVest, strategic relationships with fund managers across the country, and his off-grid island project Superior Island. Vanessa Haynes from Tempe, Arizona - founder of Greattly, 15 years of executive marketing management, daughter of Pro Football Hall of Famer Mike Haynes, and founder of Greattly Gives nonprofit. Adam Carswell from Painesville, Ohio - architect of the capital-raising ecosystem, built RaiseMasters from zero to ten million dollars in 31 months, hosted over 1,000 interviews, and the Global Capital Connector. Together, they're creating a goldmine.

The office market as we knew it is gone. Remote work killed it. The pandemic accelerated it. Now capital is repricing office buildings into apartments. Yellowstone secured $203M to convert a 221,000 sq ft office building at 220 West 42nd Street in Times Square into 176 apartments, including 44 affordable units and 18,000 sq ft of retail. Financing includes $36M mezzanine from Naftali Credit Partners and main debt from Bank Hapoalim (U.S. lending arm), arranged by IPA's Capital Markets. The property was acquired in 2022 via deed-in-lieu of foreclosure for $161.1M, down from EPIC's $261M purchase in 2012.

This deal is part of...

Sun Life Financial just made one of the most aggressive multifamily plays in years. $1.4 billion to take full control of Crescent Capital and BGO. Another $350 million to acquire Bell Partners, adding 70,000 apartment units across 12 major US markets. Combined, Sun Life now has over $100 billion in real estate assets under management. But this isn't just about buying buildings. It's about buying vertically integrated platforms with in-house management, local expertise, and operational control. Supply is still crushing demand. Vacancy rates aren't supposed to stabilize until late 2026. Most operators are treading water. Sun Life walks in and buys the machine. 75% of the...

Columbus, Ohio just took the number one spot in the entire nation for multifamily permits issued with over 7,500 units. Los Angeles is right behind with almost 7,500 units. Miami and Orlando both around 7,000 units permitted. Brooklyn rounds out the top five with almost 6,800 units.

Sponsored by Rise48.com

creicmiami.com - 500 seats, free general admission. November 6-7, 2026 in Miami.

The independent landlord sector is stabilizing. New data from Chandan Economics shows on-time rent payments climbed to 83.7% in February 2026, up from 82.8% in January. That's the highest reading since the wheels started wobbling in mid-2025.

This episode breaks down what the numbers actually mean:

Alterra Mountain Company just broke ground on The Stockman, Auberge Collection. A $550 million hotel-residence hybrid in Steamboat Springs, Colorado. And it's telling you exactly where capital is moving.

This episode breaks down why this deal matters:

The February rent numbers are in and the headline is going to scare some people.

National multifamily rent growth slowed to 1.2% year-over-year, down from 1.4% in January. Annualized monthly growth is sitting at 0.2%.

But context is the difference between panicking and positioning.

In this episode, we break down:

AI job growth is hyper-concentrated in a handful of U.S. metro areas. If you're an investor, operator, or capital allocator, you need to know which ones and what it means for office demand and data center development.

In this episode, we break down:

Rise48 Equity is the first official sponsor of CREIC.

This entire episode is dedicated to them. This is how we treat our sponsors.

Founded by Zach Haptonstall out of Phoenix, Arizona, Rise48 Equity is one of the most disciplined multifamily operators in the country. From a lower middle class upbringing to building a vertically integrated real estate company with over 11,000 units, 350 W2 employees, and a track record that speaks for itself.

In this episode, we break down:

Private credit was the institutional darling for two years running. High yields. Massive inflows. But the cracks are showing. A live dispute between Western Alliance and Jefferies over a $337M loan tied to bankrupt First Brands is exposing just how fragile the space has become. Banks hold roughly $300B in private credit exposure through opaque SPV structures and fund financing channels. When one blows up, nobody knows where the shrapnel lands.

Meanwhile, commercial real estate values remain approximately 22% below their 2022 peak, creating a compelling entry point as capital begins rotating back into real assets...

Blackstone emerged as one of the biggest sellers in commercial real estate to start 2026, offloading over $1 billion in assets in January alone. Park Avenue Tower in Manhattan ($730M), Skyview Park in Queens ($424M), Streets of Woodfield near Chicago ($69M). But they're not running for the exits. They're repositioning into data centers, luxury apartments, and logistics.

In this episode, we break down:

The official CREIC website is live.

creicmiami.com - go check it out right now.

For twelve episodes, we've been telling you the room is being built. Now it has a home. The event. The vision. The RSVP. It's all in one place.

Adam, Cam, and the team are taking an approach nobody has ever seen in commercial real estate. They're not building another conference. They're creating an experience and delivering more value than this niche has ever seen at a single event.

Here's the bold claim: There will be more ca...

If you just started listening, this is the episode that catches you up.

The first three episodes of The CREIC Podcast laid the foundation for everything that's followed. Today, we walk through all three and explain why they still matter eleven episodes later.

Episode 1: The Room Is Being Built
The origin story. The conference circuit is falling apart. Adam Carswell and Cameron Iuvancigh noticed, and instead of complaining, they decided to build the room themselves. That's how CREIC was born.

Episode 2: Why 500 Is Just the Beginning
500 isn't a cap. It's year...

Episode 11 of The CREIC Podcast highlights three newly confirmed attendees from completely different backgrounds - all converging on Miami in November.

Featured in this episode:

Six months ago, Atlanta was a punchline. Now it's projected to rank #2 in the country for rent growth.

In this episode, we break down Atlanta's surprising multifamily turnaround and what's driving the shift:

Plus Quick Hits:

Five confirmed names. Five completely different lanes. One room.

This episode breaks down five newly confirmed CREIC attendees spanning multifamily operations, self-storage, institutional capital formation, ultra-luxury development, and energy infrastructure - all converging in Miami this November.

Featured in this episode:

This week, Adam Carswell dropped a LinkedIn post that stopped the CRE feed cold. Six words: "The industry lost its gathering place."

In this episode, we break down why the post is spreading, what it actually says, and why the commercial real estate world can't stop talking about it.

Six sectors. March 2026 data. Fast and sharp.

In this episode, we break down the current state of commercial real estate across six key sectors with real numbers, real pitfalls, and real opportunities:

The CREIC RSVP list keeps getting heavier.

In this episode, we break down five more confirmed names heading to the Commercial Real Estate Investment Conference, November 6-7 in Miami:

The RSVP list for CREIC keeps getting heavier. Five confirmed names you need to know before November 6-7, 2026 in Miami.

Joe Fairless — Co-founder of Ashcroft Capital. $2.7 billion in assets under management. Over 10,000 multifamily units. Left Madison Avenue in 2012, raised $843K from 12 people, and never stopped. Founded the Best Ever CRE Show — 3,700+ episodes and counting.

Mathew Owens — OCG Properties, Manhattan Beach, CA. CPA who started flipping in 2006 and went full-time real estate. Raised over $150 million in private investor capital. 1,500+ units owned. 700+ completed projects over 10+ years. Zero investor losses. First official CREIC sponsor.

Tait Duryea — Third-ge...

Lazaro Vento. They call him Laz. Confirmed for CREIC. November 6-7, 2026. Miami.

Before Airbnb had ten listings in the entire city of Miami, Laz was already stacking reservations.

He started selling Bentleys, Rolls-Royces, and Bugattis. Best year? $400K. Then he bet everything on a cigar lounge and lost $2.5 million. House gone. Savings gone.

All he had left was a real estate license and the audacity to knock on doors in Little Haiti when everyone else called it the ghetto.

He rented every house on the block. Put them all on Airbnb...