LOS ANGELES—“I think the peak was in the third quarter of 2014,”Teague Hunter said at ALIS this week. He was talking on theAcquisition Opportunities Outside of Gateway Markets panel,along with Colin Carroll, VP of investments at Ashford;Neil Freeman, chairman and CEO of Aries Capital;Akshay Goyal, VP at Starwood Capital; and Mark K.Owens, EVP and head of hospitality capital markets at CBRE.As Hunter explains, the floating rate market in 3Q14 shutdown andthat is where he marks the peak. Today, he says, the spreads havewidened, leaving a gap between buyers and sellers on pricing andthat is also indicative of a post-peak market.

Owens disagreed, saying that the floating rate market is backtoday, and that there is plenty of debt available. “For the rightborrower, I don't think this is as dismal of a market as everyoneseems to think it is,” he said on the panel. Carroll also said thathe isn't willing to say that the peak hit in 2014, but he didwonder what the major Blackstone acquisition deals completed thatyear would look like today. For the most part, a lot of the majorREITs have shut down. While Goyal admitted, “For large deals, it ismore difficult today than in 2014.”