Midyear CRE recap: Growth, inflation, and the exit bet
About this episode
The episode discusses the economic landscape of mid-2026, focusing on growth, inflation, and trends in the commercial real estate market.
The first half of 2026 opened with a soft-landing story and closed with reignited inflation, sub-2% growth, and a hawkish Fed. In this midyear episode of CRE Exchange, Cole Perry and Omar Eltorai work through what did happen: four straight Fed holds, consumer confidence at its lowest in the survey's 70-plus year history, and a frozen housing market. Omar follows with the public markets story, where REITs returned nearly 14%, and REIT M&A is on pace for its most active year in a decade, even as private CRE remained in a gradual recovery mode. The episode closes with original Altus Group research on implied versus realized growth in CRE: when buyers price in growth at acquisition, does that growth actually materialize? And does it protect value? Key moments: 01:29 Midyear economy recap 02:08 Growth and inflation shocks 04:06 Consumer and labor check 06:56 Housing and construction trends 08:30 Fed holds and rate reality 10:14 Public markets snapshot 11:50 Credit and data center capital 14:12 Rates macro and REIT rally 19:04 Fresh labor and construction prints 23:22 Implied vs realized growth research 29:41 How to access our in-depth research
People in this episode
Host: Cole Perry
Guest: Omar Eltorai
Topics covered
- economic growth
- inflation
- real estate investment trusts
- housing market
- commercial real estate
- property valuation
Keywords
- CRE
- inflation
- REITs
- housing market
- economic growth
- Altus Group
- property valuation
Mentioned in this episode
Organizations: Altus Group
More episodes of CRE Exchange: Commercial Real Estate, Property Valuations, Real Estate Analytics and Property Tax
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- Fed shifts, ROAD to Housing Act, and CRE as an inflation hedge
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