This recession is fundamentally different than the GreatFinancial Crisis in 2008, and as a result, the opportunities tobenefit from the market dislocation will also be much different.Specifically, there will likely be fewer distressed asset sales inthis down cycle than in 2008—where investors were presented withbig opportunities to buy assets at a discount. This round, strongfundamentals heading into the recession will help to stabilizepricing and reduce distress in most asset classes.

"The fundamentals for office, multifamily and industrial productheading into this downturn were very solid," KevinShannon, co-head of U.S. capital markets atNewmark Knight Frank, tells GlobeSt.com. "Owners,generally speaking, were more disciplined during this downturn ascompared to 2008, and construction activity has been moderate.There is also no banking crisis this time around, suggesting therewill be fewer opportunities to acquire distressed office,multifamily and industrial space."

However, retail and hospitality assets—which have been impactedsignificantly by the pandemic and mandated closures to retailbusinesses and travel—will see more distressed opportunities thanthe other real estate food groups. But, there are lessons to belearned from 2008. "Lenders though learned that "extend andpretend" was a fairly successful strategy during the last downcycle as time allowed asset values to recover; however, this lenderholding strategy will be tougher for many of the distressed retailassets in need of major repurposing," says Shannon.