Fear and Frustration: Commercial Observer’s Finance Forum 2025

Featuring Leo V. Leyva

May 8, 2025

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Sprinkles of optimism, but mainly frustration, filled the air May 6 during Commercial Observer’s National Finance Forum. Inside the The Metropolitan Club of New York in Midtown Manhattan, some of commercial real estate’s biggest names held court to discuss the state of the industry on the heels of the recent economic upheaval caused by President Donald Trump’s tariff policy.

The morning opened with Lauren Hochfelder, co-CEO of Morgan Stanley Real Estate Investing, chatting with Jen Morgan, partner at law firm King & Spalding, and giving her assessment of commercial real estate capital markets.

Hochfelder noted that during the first two months of 2025, liquidity had come back into the system, transaction volume was up, the cost of capital was down (at least relative to recent years) and, most importantly, conditions on the ground set the stage for a CRE recovery.

The third panel of the morning, moderated by Leo Leyva, co-chair at law firm Cole Schotz, largely concerned the battle for market share and the different financial sources leading that fight.

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