We live in uncertain times. That was the consensus at the 2016 Fall Editorial Advisory Board Meeting of Institutional Real Estate Americas, held Sept. 6–8 at the Park Hyatt Aviara Resort in Carlsbad, Calif.

Uncertainty was a key theme for the 38 investors, 11 consultants, 44 investment managers, two fund of funds managers and three special guests who attended the meeting. The investor attendees comprised representatives from 18 public pension funds, eight corporate pension funds, four insurance companies, three family offices, three endowments and two foundations — giving a fairly representative sample of the institutional real estate investing community.

Attendees were uncertain about interest rates, and whether the Federal Open Market Committee would raise the federal funds rate target later that month (it did not, but it might increase rates later this year, with uncertain impacts). Attendees were uncertain about the disruptive effects of emerging techn