This Week's Boston Deal Sheet

If 2022 was the year a genuine downturn finally came to commercial real estate after a bull run of more than a decade, then what of 2023?

To be the bearer of bad news, CRE in '23 is likely to bring subdued liquidity, price falls and not a small amount of distress, as increased debt costs continue biting and economic growth slows around the world. 

But — and it’s still only a small but  — it could also be the year interest rates peak and investors gain enough confidence to start making new investments in a sector that has shown resilience compared to the last major financial downturn, cementing its place in the hearts of institutions across the world.

“We’re seeing price adjustments, but we’re not going to rush in to invest during a volatile period in the market,” Ivanhoé Cambridge head of Europe and Asia-Pacific Karim Habra told Bisnow. “We have strong convictions on markets supported by structural trends. So with that respect, we are a long-term investor…

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Banking giant Goldman Sachs, which as recently as November predicted the U.S. would narrowly elude a recession, is poised to cut nearly 10% of its workforce in the next month, citing slowing economic conditions for the pullback. Heading into the new year, the firm plans to eliminate…

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In Case You Missed It...

Six years of former President Donald Trump’s tax returns were released Friday, documenting a sweeping use of real estate tax law that saw him pay less than $2M over his entire presidency and $750 or less in three of those years.

After a battle royale that made it to the U.S. Supreme Court, returns made public by the House Ways and Means Committee Dec. 30 showed Trump paid no federal taxes in 2020 and just $750 in 2016 and 2017.

Between 2015 and 2020, Trump paid a total of just under $1.8M in taxes on adjusted gross income ranging from a high of $24.34M in 2018 to a loss of $31.8M in 2015, using a range of tax code write-offs common in the commercial real estate industry. Those include depreciation and carrying over losses from one year to reduce liability in another.

The returns “show how proudly successful I have been and how I have been able to use depreciation and various other tax deductions as an incentive for creating thousands of jobs and magnificent structures and enterprises,” Trump said in a statement, which also warned the disclosure would have…

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