Property Play: Brookfield's no-fear play on what's next in real estate

Summary

Brookfield Global Real Estate CEO Lowell Baron discusses the firm's bullish, contrarian investment approach as others sit on the sidelines. He highlights the early recovery in real estate, pinpoints rental housing and especially senior living as top sectors, and details niche plays such as industrial outdoor storage. The conversation also covers office bifurcation, the build-to-rent model, student housing, and the importance of operating platforms.

• Brookfield invests heavily while many peers are paralyzed by fear, seeing an early recovery window with limited competition.
• Rental housing, across the entire life cycle from student to senior, is his top sector call due to supply pipelines falling and renters staying longer.
• Senior housing has the best fundamentals of any sector, driven by a doubling 80+ population and almost no new supply since the last cycle.
• Build-to-rent single-family communities are an institutional growth area offering lower turnover and additive housing supply.
• Student housing is approached selectively, targeting large public universities with growing enrollment and buying below replacement cost.
• Industrial outdoor storage (IOS) is a fragmented, supply-constrained niche with rising rents and very little competition.
• Class A office is at record rents with a strong recovery, while lower-quality office distress is already largely priced in.
• Data center development remains attractive but requires discipline; bottlenecks prevent overbuilding, but chasing the hottest theme is warned against.