End of the cycle angst: “It’s different this time”

At Institutional Real Estate, Inc.’s 2019 Visions, Insights & Perspectives (VIP) Americas conference in Carlsbad, Calif., president and CEO Geoffrey Dohrmann shared key themes and insights from IREI’s 2018 global editorial board meetings, which are attended by institutional investors, investment managers and consultants.

One of the biggest reoccurring themes was “end of cycle angst.” Dohrmann explained that the real estate market upcycle has been prolonged since the 2008 global financial crisis, in such a way that “everyone has been investing, but no one has had a good time doing it.” Dohrmann described this as white-knuckle investing, due to the fact that everyone has been concerned that the market will fall apart.

One of the panelists during the discussion, Carl Gomez, SVP, research & strategy at QuadReal Property Group, agreed that the end of the cycle is a concern and that “it’s different this time.” He added that there is “a lot of mone