www.REBusinessOnline.com January 2021 • Volume 18, Issue 5 OUTLOOK 2021: A BIFURCATED CRE INDUSTRY WITH OPTIMISM FOR SOME, TREPIDATION FOR OTHERS Though just about all of our annual survey respondents agree this year has to be better than last, the levels of pain and pleasure experienced seem to vary by product type. By Nellie Day Uncertain 3 years or longer What is your best guess as to how long it will take for the retail and restaurant industries to return to pre-pandemic levels of business activity? 8% 2.4% Never 6 months 3.2% 8% I 2.5 years t’s the beginning of a new year, which means it’s time to reveal the results of our annual WREB broker, lender, and owners, developers and managers (ODM) surveys. Though 2020 was unlike any other year, it nevertheless followed the pattern of our previous years’ surveys in that the majority of participants remain optimistic they’ll do more deals in the following year than in the 12 months prior. True to form, 52 percent of ODMs, 54 percent of brokers and a whopping 96 percent of lend-ers surveyed believed they would get more deals done this year than in 2020. Of course, our participants in the 2020 Outlook survey see OUTLOOK, page 20 4% 19.2% 1 year 27.2% 2 years 1.5 years 28% Source: WREB Broker Forecast Survey PUBLIC-PRIVATE PARTNERSHIPS CAN CREATE MUCH-NEEDED MIDDLE INCOME HOUSING By Jeff Jaeger and Scott Alter By addressing the ‘missing middle,’ public and private entities can provide housing for millions of hardworking Americans who contribute greatly to their communities. I Source: Standard Communities Standard Communities recently purchased the 150-unit Renaissance at City Center in Carson for $78 million. The eight-year-old property features premium nishes, as well as amenities like a pool, tness center, billiards room, movie theater and pet grooming facility. nsuffi cient multi-housing construction during years of strong economic growth has created a housing aff ordability crisis for lower-and middle-income families across the Western U.S., particularly in California’s ma-jor metro areas. In recent years, the voters of California and other Western states have made heroic funding commitments to build new housing for those at the lowest income levels, with a focus on supportive housing for people experiencing homelessness. At the same time, little attention — and fewer resources — have been ap-plied to the housing needs of families in what has been called the “missing middle,” or those with incomes too high for conventional aff ordable hous-ing programs, but not high enough to aff ord market rate rents in rapidly growing, prime real estate and job markets. Companies like Standard Communities are trying to do something about this. We have created a new workforce housing initiative that utilizes the public-private partnership structure. Standard Communities works with see AFFORDABLE HOUSING, page 22 1 / 1 INSIDE THIS ISSUE Is Phoenix the West’s Most Pandemic-Resistant City? page 14 Want to receive this magazine at home? Visit www.francemediainc.com/ publications to temporarily change your address today.