Matthew Cypher

Matthew Cypher is a professor of the practice in real estate finance and Director of the Real Estate Finance Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business.

Sellers of commercial real estate in today’s hypercompetitive market are focused on a number of objectives, including maximizing sales prices and ensuring that a selected buyer will close a transaction. On the other hand, prospective buyers are looking for any competitive advantage that will result in a successful acquisition. New research quantifies the effect of trusted relationships—and the price of doubt.
Grocery-anchored shopping centers have long been a highly desirable investment due principally to the nondiscretionary nature of purchases made there by consumers. But changes in grocery formats and shoppers’ habits could shake up the way space is used.
In an opinion piece for Urban Land, Matthew Cypher, director of the Real Estate Finance Initiative at Georgetown University’s McDonough School of Business, says the hands-on training of other industries such as health care can provide new models for real estate education.
Domestically produced energy, 3-D printing, and devices that communicate with each other all have potential to change the environment for real estate.
Secondary markets behave differently than their big-city gateway peers, so prudent investors need to adjust their strategies accordingly.
Are losses in store when investors pay more for an existing asset than the cost to build one new?
The primary conversation in the commercial real estate market today revolves around the substantial amount of equity capital chasing high-quality core investments as prospective buyers exhibit a high level of interest in the stability of income and an overall lower risk level. For reasons that have yet to be fully explored, there is comparatively little discussion of value-add and opportunistic space.

Value-add and opportunistic investments traditionally have been considered higher-risk strategies that use significant degrees of leverage to maximize the total return of an investment. Value-add opportunities generally involve Class B or C assets in high-quality locations that can be significantly improved operationally or rehabilitated to increase cash flow. Leverage approaching 65 percent can be used both to enhance returns and to finance part of the renovation capital.

Last year was momentous for the real estate debt and equity markets as both exhibited signs that investors are slowly beginning to return. This year should be no less interesting.
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