Brookfield Predicts Robust Office Recovery And Market Rebound

Brookfield Asset Management believes the commercial real estate market is poised to rack up wins as it recovers from inflation, high interest rates and a tight lending environment.

And at an investor day event this week, Brookfield executives said they expect the office market, in particular, to rebound in a big way as it benefits from record-low construction rates and decreased supply. 

Brookfield Head of The Americas Ben Brown said if supply on the market stays constrained and demand picks up as expected, a “pretty robust recovery across office markets” could be on the horizon, Bloomberg reported.

The rosy projections come as Brookfield looks to double its business over the next five years, according to a company presentation, calling the present moment an “extremely opportunistic point in time for real estate investing” as markets stabilize after two years of volatility.

Global banks have already begun scaling back hurdles to obtaining capital, and Brookfield is now operating in the “next phase of the cycle,” said Brad Hyler, Brookfield head of European real estate, according to Bloomberg.

With headwinds that stalled transactions “in the rear view window,” the firm is seeing opportunity ahead.

“Whether it’s distressed loans and non-performing loans and creditors, whether it’s for sellers because they can’t refinance their debt,” Hyler said.

The Canadian firm took about 30 years to hit $1T in assets under management this year and plans to get to “the next trillion” by 2029, President Connor Teskey said. To reach that goal, it will beef up its fundraising capabilities to support 16% annual growth, including kicking in $25M annually of its own, Buyouts reported. 

Brookfield also plans to scale up some divisions, including its private wealth business, and is exploring the possibility of relocating its headquarters from Toronto to New York.