2022 Real Assets Market Overview

“It’s not what you don’t know that gets you in trouble. It’s what you ‘know’…that just ain’t so.” Though unconfirmed, this quote is often attributed to Mark Twain. Regardless of the source, there is a lot of wisdom in this old saying. We are weary of the unknown yet embrace what we feel as “known” without question.

Fundraising is like a box of…ice cream? Let’s talk ice cream! Given his druthers, my father would eat ice cream for three meals a day. I’m no different, although modern science and pesky things like lipid panels suggest this is ill advised. But I digress…

The Electric Slide… A cringeworthy and usually regrettable experience mostly reserved for weddings. Although boogying on the dance floor may be a feature of the past (or should be for some of us), there’s no doubt that our future will be more electric as the energy transition gains steam.

It certainly is an exciting time to be a private infrastructure investor. The skeptical among you might point out that roads, bridges, airports, ports and power plants have all been around for decades – or even centuries, in some cases, and may not feel particularly compelling to growth-minded equity investors.

Real estate investors around the globe have been reassuring themselves of this statement for decades; and indeed, at no time has this statement been more relevant than right now. And yet, some investors are still jittery. So let’s turn to some insights we’ve seen and heard throughout 2022 to offer some perspective to attempt to assuage some of those concerns.

In 2021, the commercial real estate market experienced a rebound that surpassed forecasts, with national property values reaching all-time highs. The real estate market continued to observe a K-shaped recovery across sectors, fueled by consumer behavior and migratory patterns.