10th Annual Real Estate South Forum

State of the Industry

The Real Estate South Forum kicks off with a dynamic fireside chat with Ken McDowell of the Employees Retirement System of Texas. In this session, Ken will dive into ecommerce, onshoring, and other macro economic trends impacting industrial properties. He will discuss how he views niche property types like manufactured housing, medical office building, and cold storage. What are key considerations around data centers? Have private real estate valuations troughed? How quickly will they rebound?

Roadmap to a High Performing Real Estate Strategy

Real Estate industry leaders convene to lend their expertise on how markets are shifting across the sunbelt. Which sectors of the real estate market are performing favorably? How are investors and managers diversifying their portfolios? How are investors designing a comprehensive roadmap to a top performing real estate strategy?

What’s Next for Texas (and the Rest of the Sunbelt) –2026 Outlook

In recent years, the Sunbelt has seen a surge of renters and buyers, particularly as residents from the West Coast and Northeast sought more affordable housing options. As we look ahead to 2026, will the region continue its growth trajectory? Which real estate sectors are poised for the strongest returns? What do industry experts anticipate for the future of Texas and its neighboring states?

The Role of Housing in Portfolio Construction

What housing trends are most significantly driving the residential, multifamily, student housing, senior housing, manufactured housing, single family rental, and build to rent markets? How are mortgage rates impacting housing markets in Texas? What are industry leaders predicting for rental patterns? What are your thoughts on price corrections?

Expert Niche Real Estate Property Projections

Which niche real estate asset type is performing favorably? As niche real estate strategies are continuing to gain favor amongst investors, where are you focusing your research efforts? Life sciences, data centers, cold storage, luxury garages, film studios, medical office buildings, among others, are being woven into investment research conversations. Which alternative sectors are top of mind for you?

Strengthening Your Debt Exposure 

How are investors approaching debt in the current economic market? How are lending standards, mortgage maturities, and loan defaults impacting the market? How can you provide investors with predictable cash flow? How are debt valuations teams making sense of local real estate markets? What does the next year hold for commercial and residential real estate debt?

The Rise of Industrial

Industrial real estate markets are growing as logistics,manufacturing and data centers continue to rise. How are these real estateasset classes playing a role in your portfolio? Why should investors beconsidering both industrial properties to bolster their real estate investmentstrategies? What technological innovations are emerging in this sector? Whatare the infrastructure requirements to support it?

The Next Wave of Retail, Office and Hospitality

How are developers, managers, and investors approaching thenext wave of commercial real estate? How is the projected growth of retail foottraffic impacting your real estate portfolio? Has your perspective on officechanged in the last year? What will the next wave of hotels and hospitalityhold? Are luxury hotels and high-end destinations top of mind in your approachto hospitality?

Debating Opportunistic, Value Add, Core, and Core Plus

Given the change in administration, how is your organizationshifting its approach to core and core plus real estate strategies? Are youanticipating stronger returns for value add and opportunistic or core and coreplus properties? Which geographic markets are you betting on, and why? Do youhave a contrarian view on risk profiles? Are you balancing your portfolio witha blend of opportunistic, value add, core, and core plus?

The Future of Real Estate

Industry leaders take the stage to share their criticalmarket projections. Where is the real estate industry heading? What markettrends are fading, and which are emerging? How are you approaching assetprotection for your underlying clients? Which real estate asset classes are youbetting on in the long term? How are you approaching innovation as you lookahead to the next 12-24 months?