These are changing, challenging times. The five years of market turmoil since the start of the global financial crisis in 2008 have been associated with the stages of grief: shock, denial, anger, depression and resolution — although not always in that order.

We are now in the midst of the anger, depression and resolution phases. A backlash of regulatory change is flowing globally (anger), and a significant and prolonged period of deleveraging together with a realignment of risk-weighted asset charges for banks (depression) has begun. The result is a focus on avoiding the same mistakes, moving to a lower-risk environment as leverage moves elsewhere — and all has resulted in higher term, liquidity and credit premia for financing over the next cycle (resolution).

Against this backdrop, the real estate fund environment is changing. Real estate professionals and fund managers will see their core strengths and capabilities tested in the face of four key challenges: a dif