Understanding pricing of any kind in CRE — properties, building, insurance, financing — has become extremely difficult. Lowered transition volumes and quickly changing economic and financial factors have made the process incredibly difficult.

But when it comes to seeing how investors are pricing opportunities, Trepp suggests looking at an investment's spread-to-Treasury bonds. There is a deep sense in that as Treasurys are so often part of calculating a risk-adjusted return. They are the typical measure of safety.

Vivek Denkanikotte at Trepp points to a pair of spread indices that are applicable to CRE and real estate capital markets. The first is the comparison of AAA-rated senior commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) bond trading on secondary markets to Treasurys. The second is CRE loan spreads quoted by portfolio lenders.