THE PANDEMIC HAS BEEN AN EXERCISE IN people wondering when the world would return to normal. Now, the question is what normal even means. As someone, who wanted anonymity for this comment, said, "It's like a Magic 8-Ball with the only answer as 'Outlook hazy, ask me later.'"

Many hope that soon inflation will be over, interest rates return to low levels, and business again will flourish. Or that property valuations and prices will return to what they were not long ago. Or that they'll get a great deal anyway. As Barry Saywitz, president of national brokerage The Saywitz Company, says: "You have a seller who wants yesterday's number, and you have a buyer who slings low-ball offers and sees who's desperate."

Will CRE make its way back to pre-pandemic patterns? Eventually. The question is which version of normal and how far back?