News Type: Roundtable Weekly

Roundtable SOI Meeting Spotlights Monetary Policy, Liquidity, and Capital

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

The Roundtable’s State of the Industry (SOI) meeting this week explored monetary policy, international capital flows, commercial real estate market sector updates, and other national capital and credit issues included in RER’s 2024 Capital and Credit Policy Priorities.

Policy and CRE Markets

Debra Cafaro (Ventas) with former Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles
  • Debra Cafaro (Chairman & CEO, Ventas, Inc. | Immediate Past Chair, The Real Estate Roundtable) led a policy discussion with former Fed Vice Chairman Randal Quarles (Chairman, The Cynosure Group) on the “Basel III Endgame“ regulatory proposal to increase banks’ capital requirements; CRE loan exposure to the financial system; and the importance of retaining Fed independence from the political landscape.
  • CRE industry leaders offered market sector reports, including Roundtable Board Member Jodie McLean (Chief Executive Officer, EDENS) on retail; Thomas Toomey (Chairman and CEO, UDR) on multifamily; Dan Letter (President, Prologis) on industrial; Roundtable Board Member Owen Thomas (Chairman & CEO, BXP) on office; and Michael Lowe (Co-CEO, Lowe) on hospitality.
Foreign Investment panel during The Real Estate Roundtable's 2024 State of the Industry Meeting
  • Roundtable members also discussed market liquidity and international investment in U.S. real estate, including the negative impact of the Foreign Investment in Real Property Tax Act (FIRPTA) of 1980. A panel of experts included (left to right) David Friedline (Partner, Deloitte Tax LLP); Steve Hason (Managing Director, Head of Americas Real Assets, APG Asset Management US Inc.); Adam Gallistel (Managing Director, GIC Real Estate); and Max O’Neill (Managing Director, Blackstone). 
  • A presentation by Roundtable Senior Vice President Clifton E. (Chip) Rodgers, Jr. about the major capital and credit issues facing the industry can be downloaded here.

The Roundtable’s Real Estate Capital Policy Advisory Committee (RECPAC) plans to meet next in New York this spring.  Details on date, time and venue will be provided soon.

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Senator Joe Manchin and Financier Michael Milken Among Roundtable’s SOI Meeting Guests

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier
2024 photo: left, Real Estate Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer with Roundtable Chair John Fish (Suffolk)

Roundtable Chair John Fish, right, (Chairman and CEO, Suffolk) and Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer, left, launched this week’s Real Estate Roundtable 2024 State of the Industry (SOI) meeting, which focused on many of RER’s 2024 Policy Priorities. (See Executive Summary and the SOI meeting agenda)

  • The meeting featured a discussion with Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) and Financier Michael Milken on America’s leadership role in the world. Additional presentations by prominent policymakers and industry leaders focused on issues of importance to commercial real estate, including updates on select market conditions by Roundtable members. (See below)

Economic Leadership & Future Challenges

Sen. Joe Manchin, left, with Financier Michael Milken at The Real Estate Roundtable's 2024 State of the Industry Meeing
  • Sen. Manchin, left, and Mr. Milken, right, discussed the need to preserve American economic leadership; the crucial, long-term importance of an educated workforce; and global demographic trends that pose new challenges to U.S. strength.
  • Sen. Manchin noted that he is retiring from the Senate at the end of this Congress but not retiring from his efforts to encourage bipartisan policy solutions to America’s big challenges such as immigration, the national debt and deficit, and electoral system issues.
  • An international financier and philanthropist, Mr. Milken discussed a variety of his successful initiatives in access to capital, medical research, education, and public health. He leads a new DC-based initiative called the Milken Center for Advancing the American Dream while spearheading the Milken Institute, a nonpartisan think tank focused on financial, physical, mental, and environmental health issues affecting critical global issues.
The Real Estate Roundtable's 2024 State of the Industry Meeting was well attended.

Three additional U.S. Senators and other guests at the Jan. 23-24 SOI meeting addressed a variety of other policy issues, including affordable housing, tax policy, banking and climate regulations, evolving security threats, and the current election cycle. (RER’s 2024 SOI meeting agenda and stories below).

Next on The Roundtable’s 2024 meeting calendar is the Spring Meeting on April 15-16. The upcoming meeting is restricted to Roundtable-level members only. 

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Congress Extends Government Funding Until March, House Ways & Means Approves Tax Package with LIHTC and Business Provisions

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

President Biden signed legislation today that averts a partial federal government shutdown by extending federal funding to March 1 and 8. The stopgap, passed by Congress yesterday, gives policymakers limited time to negotiate 12 additional bills at an agreed-upon $1.59 trillion limit to fund the government through the end of its fiscal year on Sept. 30. (Associated Press, Jan. 19 | (Politico and The Hill, Jan. 18)

Stopgap Funding

  • Today’s stopgap is the third “continuing resolution” Congress has cleared since the start of the current fiscal year on Oct. 1. Intense opposition from members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus led Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to reach an agreement with Democrats to support the measure. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 18)
  • A similar short-term spending bill last October led to the ouster of former Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) by House conservatives. (Wall Street Journal, Jan. 8)

Bipartisan Tax Package Advances

House Ways and Means Committee
  • Provisions in the tax bill affecting real estate include:

    • Low-Income Housing Tax Credit
      A Roundtable-supported three-year extension (2023–2025) of the 12.5 percent increase in LIHTC allocations to states. Even more importantly, the agreement reforms LIHTC’s tax-exempt bond financing requirement, which will allow more affordable housing projects to receive LIHTC allocations outside of the state cap, and without requiring projects be financed with 50% tax-exempt bonds.
       
    • Business Interest Deductibility
      A retroactive, four-year extension (2022–2025) of the taxpayer-favorable EBITDA standard for measuring the amount of business interest deductible under section 163(j). The changes do not alter the exception to the interest limitation that applies to interest attributable to a real estate business.

    • Bonus Depreciation 
      Extension of 100 percent bonus depreciation through the end of 2025. As under current law, leasehold and other qualifying interior improvements are eligible for bonus depreciation. In 2026, bonus depreciation would fall to 20 percent and expire altogether after 2026.  

  • Other provisions in the agreement include reforms to the child tax credit, the expensing of R&D costs, disaster tax relief, a double-taxation tax agreement with Taiwan, and a large pay-for that creates significant new penalties for abuse of the employee retention tax credit (ERTC) rules and accelerates the expiration of the ERTC.

Sen. Wyden and senior congressional staff will discuss tax legislation with Roundtable members during The Roundtable’s all-member 2024 State of the Industry Meeting in Washington next week.

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Roundtable and Industry Coalition Raise Concerns About Negative Impact of Basel III Endgame Proposal

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

The Real Estate Roundtable has raised concerns about the negative impact that the “Basel III Endgame” regulatory proposal would have on real estate credit and capital markets, urging federal banking regulators to withdraw their proposed rulemaking to increase capital requirements for banks with at least $100 billion in assets. The Roundtable’s letter Jan. 12 outlines how the proposal would decrease real estate credit availability, increase costs to commercial and multifamily real estate borrowers, and negatively impact the U.S. economy. (Roundtable comment letter)

Industry Opposition

  • The Roundtable letter states, “The largest U.S. banks’ capital and liquidity levels have grown dramatically since the original Basel III standards were implemented in 2013 in response to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. So it is not clear what problem regulators are trying to solve with this proposed capital hike.”
  • The letter also noted that raising capital levels at the largest U.S. banks will only limit credit and feed a downward spiral that will put additional pressure on the financial system.
  • Additionally, The Roundtable filed a Jan. 16 letter, along with a coalition of nine national industry trade groups in opposition to the proposal, citing its potential negative impact on available credit capacity for commercial real estate transactions, market liquidity, and economic growth. (Industry coalition letter)

Fed Weighing Possible Changes

The Federal Reserve in Washington, DC

Federal Reserve officials are considering possible adjustments to key parts of the proposal, “including operational risk calculations and potential offsets for mortgage servicing,” according to the Federal Reserve’s Vice Chair for Supervision Michael Barr. “The public comment(s) that we’re getting on this is really critical for us getting it right. We take it very, very seriously,” Barr said. (Reuters and PoliticoPro, Jan. 9)

  • The Roundtable joined a coalition of 17 national trade associations in a letter to the Federal Reserve to oppose the proposal on Nov. 14. (U.S. Chamber of Commerce-led coalition letter, Nov. 14 and Axios, Nov. 16)
  • Real Estate Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer also stated in a March 2023 comment letter to Barr and other key regulators, “At this critical time, it is important that the agencies do not engage in pro-cyclical policies such as requiring financial institutions to increase capital and liquidity levels to reflect current mark to market models. These policies would have the unintended consequence of further diminishing liquidity and creating additional downward pressure on asset values.”

Wave of Impending CRE Maturities

  • This month’s Roundtable and industry coalition letters emphasize the banking proposal’s negative impact on real estate. The regulators estimate their own proposal would raise capital on the target institutions by 16% on average, which could have a profoundly negative impact on the availability of credit for commercial and multifamily real estate development—especially as interest rates remain high and the need for more affordable housing continues to grow.
  • The coalition letter also notes that the commercial and multifamily real estate industry is a $20 trillion dollar market supported by $5.82 trillion of commercial real estate debt, of which 50% is held by commercial banks.
  • Of that total debt, more than $2 trillion of CRE loans are maturing over the next four years. The letters address how the risks of raising capital levels at the largest U.S. banks would limit credit and exert downward pressure on the financial system.

National Media Reports Focus on CRE Pressures

Scott Rechler, left, speaks with 60 Minutes
  • This week, The Wall Street Journal reported on the impending wave of commercial real estate debt, which increases “the prospect of a surge in defaults as property owners are forced to refinance at higher rates.” The article also cited Trepp data showing that $602 billion in total debt backed by office buildings and other commercial real estate comes due in 2027. (WSJ, Jan. 16)
  • Additionally, CBS’ 60 Minutes on Jan. 14 televised a report on the pressures facing CRE that featured Roundtable Board Member Scott Rechler (Chairman and CEO, RXR), above left. “This post-COVID world of higher interest rates, the changing nature of how people work and live, we’re not going back to where we were,” Rechler said. “And it’s going to be turbulent.”

Capital and credit issues facing CRE will be a focus of discussion at next week’s all-member Roundtable State of the Industry meeting on Jan. 23-24 in Washington, DC.

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RER President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer Recognized with Commercial Property Executive’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier
Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer

A “Lifetime Achievement Award” from the national publication Commercial Property Executive recognized the accomplishments of Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer, who spoke about current policy challenges facing the industry, The Roundtable’s evolution, and the industry’s historical effectiveness in Washington. (Watch the Jan. 18 webcast | Read DeBoer’s written comments | CPE article, Jan. 19)

  • DeBoer noted that real estate is entering a period of increased national public policy risks, which include issues such as liquidity, energy and resiliency, tax policy, and more.  
  • DeBoer stated, “[The Roundtable’s] job is to focus on these policy risks, gather the facts, prepare the analysis, develop sound messages, and fine-tune our messages and our message delivery system.”
  • DeBoer added, “It’s very important that everyone in the industry recognize that to ignore Washington in the coming years is to increase business risk.”

Current and upcoming challenges facing the industry will be the focus of The Roundtable’s Jan. 23-24 all-member State of the Industry Meeting in Washington, DC.

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Building Emissions Policies Picking Up Steam in 2024

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

A confluence of mandatory rules and voluntary guidelines pertaining to real estate’s climate impacts—including a first-ever U.S. definition for the term Zero Emissions Building (“ZEB”) and an imminent Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) greenhouse gas disclosure rule—will be a key focus of policy makers in 2024.

ZEB Definition

  • On Jan. 9, GlobeSt reported that The Roundtable supports the direction of the Biden administration’s recently released voluntary ZEB draft definition pertinent to private sector existing buildings and new construction. (Roundtable Weekly, Jan. 5)
  • The ZEB definition proposes voluntary criteria for buildings to be highly energy efficient and powered solely by clean energy sources to attain zero emissions status.

  • The Roundtable’s Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC) is working on comments (due Feb. 5) in response to the Energy Department’s draft.

SEC & Scope 3

  • The SEC is expected to release its long-anticipated climate risk disclosure rule this spring. (Roundtable Weekly, March 10, 2023) On Jan. 11, Bisnow quoted Roundtable Senior Vice President and Counsel Duane Desiderio about the SEC’s impending rule and its impact on CRE and other industries. 
  • Desiderio explained to Bisnow, “Let’s hope the SEC delivers some workable rules and brings rationality to this space, especially regarding Scope 3 indirect emissions” that cover sources in a company’s supply chain beyond its immediate control. Desiderio added, “The market is certainly moving in the direction of the SEC rule.” (RER Fact Sheets: SEC’s Proposed Rule and California’s Climate Disclosure bills)

179D & BPS

  • Another federal rule expected in the coming weeks concerns the section 179D tax deduction for energy efficient buildings, substantially revamped by the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA). (Roundtable Weekly, Dec. 1).The Internal Revenue Service will propose a regulation for comment that addresses how existing building retrofits may qualify for this incentive.
  • Axios (Jan. 9) reported this week about trends at the local level to enact building performance standards (BPS) such as LL 97 in New York City. While Congress has not granted authority for a national emissions mandate on buildings, more cities and states are expected to run with these efforts in 2024. (Roundtable Weekly, Sept. 15).
  • A report from the Rhodium Group this week shows U.S. GHG emissions decreased nearly 2 percent year-on-year in 2023. The report also notes that emissions from commercial and residential buildings dropped by 4 percent, which the researchers attributed primarily to a mild winter. (PoliticoPro and The Hill, Jan. 10)  

SCOTUS to Consider Federal Agency “Deference”

The Supreme Court
  • A wild card in the effectiveness and durability of federal regulations—not just in the climate arena, but from any U.S. agency—will be at the fore this spring when SCOTUS renders a decision in Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo.
  • Loper will consider whether an administrative law doctrine from 1984 known as “Chevron deference,” which grants wide latitude to federal agencies when crafting rules to implement laws passed by Congress, should be overruled. (SCOTUS Blog, May 1, 2023)
  • The Department of Commerce stated in their brief that overruling Chevron “would be a convulsive shock to the legal system.” Oral argument will take place next Wednesday, with a decision expected by early summer. (SCOTUS Blog, Jan. 8, 2024)

Officials from the White House, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Energy Department and leading non-governmental organizations will address issues at the nexus of buildings and climate policy on January 24 at the Roundtable’s all-member 2024 State of the Industry Meeting.

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Congress Struggles to Assemble Stopgap Funding Measure as Policymakers Negotiate Elements of Potential Tax Package

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

House and Senate lawmakers are discussing a short-term stopgap measure aimed at avoiding government shutdown deadlines on Jan. 19 and Feb. 2, which would also buy time to negotiate additional funding through the end of the fiscal year on Sept. 30. Meanwhile, with tax filing season slated to begin Jan. 29, congressional tax writers reported making progress this week on a potential tax package that includes measures on business interest deductibility, bonus depreciation, and the child tax credit. (CQ | PoliticoPro | TaxNotes, Jan. 11)

Funding Challenge

  • Sen. John Thune (R-SD), the second-ranking Republican in the Senate, said on Tuesday that a stopgap bill with funding until March might be necessary. “What that looks like next week, and where it originates, House or Senate, remains to be seen.” Thune said. (Roll Call, Jan. 9 and PunchBowl News, Jan. 10)
  • Sen. Majority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) announced yesterday that the Senate will consider a “continuing resolution” to keep the government open. “A shutdown is looming over us, starting on Jan. 19, about a week away. Unfortunately, it has become crystal clear that it will take more than a week to finish the appropriations process.” (CBS News and CQ, Jan. 11)
  • In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) is struggling to obtain the approval of conservative Republicans on a spending agreement announced on Sunday for a $1.66 trillion spending plan for the federal government. (The Hill, Jan. 11 and AP, Jan. 8))
  • Republicans currently hold a 220-seat majority in the House while Democrats control 213, which means Johnson can afford to lose only three votes in his caucus for the GOP to pass legislation in the lower chamber by party-line vote. (AP, Jan 11 | CNN, Jan. 9 | AlterNet, Jan. 2)

Tax Package Negotiations

  • On Wednesday, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Ron Wyden (D-OR) and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO), above, presented their members with an outline of a potential, three-year $70 billion tax package. 
  • Disagreements continue over the scope of a potential child tax credit and low-income housing tax credit in exchange for partial restorations of business tax credits such as business interest deductibility and bonus depreciation. (MarketWatch and PunchBowl, Jan. 11 | PoliticoPro and Wall Street Journal, Jan. 10)
  • Issues that remain under consideration include a Roundtable-supported expansion of the low-income housing tax credit and the deductibility of state and local taxes (SALT). Sen. Wyden and senior congressional staff will discuss tax legislation with Roundtable members during The Roundtable’s all-member 2024 State of the Industry Meeting on Jan. 23-24.

Preview of Coming Tax Battles

PWC 2024 Tax Policy Outlook figure 8
  • Current discussions among congressional tax negotiators are a precursor for a much larger challenge next year, when 23 different provisions in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) will change or expire at the end of 2025, including the deduction for pass-through business income and the cap on the SALT deduction. (Roundtable Weekly, May 26)
  • PWC emphasized the stakes in next year’s tax negotiations in its “2024 Tax Policy Outlook” released yesterday. PwC’s National Tax Services Co-Leader Rohit Kumar told PoliticoPro that the current tax package under consideration would amount to only a “rounding error” when compared to the value of all the TCJA provisions. Today’s Wall Street Journal estimated there are $6 trillion in taxes at stake in this year’s elections.
  • Policymakers’ efforts to pass government funding and negotiate a tax package come as office vacancies hit a record high in the fourth quarter of last year, according to a Moody’s Analytics released Jan. 8.

The Moody’s report shows the national office vacancy rate rose 40 bps to a record-breaking 19.6 percent. The new record shatters the previous rate of 19.3% set twice previously—and reflects changing trends in business needs and the recent shift towards in remote work arrangements. (Wall Street Journal and ConnectCRE, Jan. 8)

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RER President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer to Receive Commercial Property Executive’s Lifetime Achievement Award

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier
Jeffrey DeBoer, President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable

Real Estate Roundtable President and CEO Jeffrey DeBoer, above, will receive Commercial Property Executive’s Lifetime Achievement Award during CPE’s virtual 2023 Influence Awards on Thursday, Jan. 18 at 1 pm ET, when he will deliver the keynote address. (Register here for the event)

As the founding President and CEO of The Real Estate Roundtable and in previous Washington-based positions, DeBoer has been at the forefront of national policy affecting the real estate industry for the past 40 years.

The prominent Capitol Hill publication, The Hill recently recognized DeBoer as one of the “Top Lobbyists” in Washington, DC for 2023. This was the sixth consecutive year DeBoer has been included in the list. (Roundtable Weekly, Dec. 8)

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Congress Faces Shutdown Deadlines as Domestic Funding and Foreign Aid Priorities Dominate Early 2024 Agenda

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

Congress faces a looming set of government shutdown deadlines early in the New Year as pressure builds on lawmakers to balance government funding with increased emergency aid requests for the southern border, Ukraine, and Israel. A stopgap bill passed late last year established the first funding deadline on Jan. 19, which could shutter parts of the government—while the second deadline on Feb. 2 could bring a total shutdown, including military operations. (Punchbowl News, Jan. 5 | The Hill, Jan. 1 | Politico, Jan. 2 and Dec. 28)

Tax Legislation

  • Congressional focus on immediate funding priorities adds a degree of uncertainty to an additional tax package that may seek to hitch a ride on any new spending bill early in the year. (Tax Notes and Politico, Jan. 2)
  • Recent discussions between Senate and House tax writers have focused on a package in the $90-100 billion range that would include measures on business interest deductibility, bonus depreciation, and an increase in the child tax credit for low-income families. (Roundtable Weekly, Nov. 17)
  • Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-OR) is scheduled to discuss funding priorities and tax issues during The Roundtable’s all-member 2024 State of the Industry Meeting on Jan. 23. Additionally, senior congressional staff from both Senate Finance and the House Ways and Means Committees will discuss the outlook for tax, trade, and other economic legislation in 2024 and beyond with Roundtable members.

Congressional Review Act

  • On the regulatory front, the Congressional Review Act (CRA) is a tool a new Congress can use to overturn certain federal agency rules completed during the last 60 session days of the previous Congress. This “lookback” threat of CRA reversal may come to fruition if Republicans win control of Congress and the White House in the November elections. (PoliticoPro, Jan. 2 and Congressional Research Service.)

A CRA initiative could impact Biden administration regulations completed this summer, but an exact date for when new rules would be clear of the CRA “lookback” is unknown at this time. (PoliticoPro, Jan. 2)

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Biden Administration Requests Comments on Draft Definition for “Zero Emissions Buildings”

Posted on by Abigail Grenadier

The Biden administration on Wednesday issued a draft definition for the term “Zero Emissions Buildings.” The voluntary guideline would apply to non-federal, existing buildings and new construction. The U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) requested comments by Feb. 5 from industry and other stakeholders about Part 1 of the draft “ZEB” language, which is focused on “zero operating emissions.” (DOE announcement | National Definition Draft Criteria | Comments Form)

Draft Criteria

  • An eventual, final ZEB definition would be the first federal government guideline providing voluntary criteria for buildings that aspire to zero emissions status. DOE’s proposed draft defines a zero emissions building through three (3) criteria:
    1. Highly energy efficient
    2. Free of on-site emissions from energy use, and
    3. Powered solely from clean energy
  • DOE will hold two public listening sessions on the draft definition. Registration is capped at the first 100 attendees:
    1. Thursday, January 11, 2024 @ 10 a.m. ET – Register
    2. Tuesday, January 30, 2024 @ 10:30 a.m. ET – Register

National ZEB Definition

  • RER plans to submit comments about the draft proposal. A federal definition for ZEB could bring much-needed consistency to help CRE owners and investors establish long-term emissions goals for buildings. (Roundtable Weekly, Sept. 29, 2023)
  • The Roundtable and a coalition of real estate organizations sent a Sept. 14 letter to US-EPA supporting development of standard methods and metrics for buildings and tenants to quantify their emissions.
  • Federal standards, definitions, and tools “are the North Star though which local governments can inform their law-making, and this helps bring some sense and order to the otherwise conflicting patchwork of climate laws and frameworks developed by states, cities, and NGOs,” said The Roundtable’s Sustainability Policy Advisory Committee (SPAC) Chair Tony Malkin (Chairman, President, and CEO, Empire State Realty Trust). (Roundtable Weekly, Sept. 15)
  • Roundtable Senior VP and Counsel Duane Desiderio was quoted on Sept. 28 in the Washington Post about how CRE companies may welcome the idea of a single federal standard. “A workable, usable federal definition of zero-emission buildings can bring some desperately needed uniformity and consistency to a chaotic regulatory landscape,” Desiderio said. (Roundtable Weekly, Sept. 15)

Executive branch officials from the White House, federal agencies, and leading non-governmental organizations will discuss the national ZEB definition on Jan. 24 during sessions on sustainability issues at The Roundtable’s all-member 2024 State of the Industry Meeting.

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