CRE Leaders Take Market Uncertainty in Stride

As part of our 2025 Summer Leadership Series, Connect CRE asked commercial real estate leaders whether their outlook for the industry and economy has changed since the start of the year. Today, you’ll see the responses from Mitchell Hunter, president of Trimont; and Gary Bechtel, CEO of Red Oak Capital Holdings.

Reflecting on developments since the beginning of 2025, has your overall outlook for the CRE market this year undergone significant changes? Have you observed shifts in your clients’ perspectives, and if so, what adjustments in the guidance are you and your team implementing to address these evolving viewpoints? 

Mitchell Hunter: Yes, my outlook continues to be influenced by some of 2025’s economic events. The extended conversation around tariffs, the resilient U.S. economy, enhanced geopolitical risk, and the continued strength of corporate earnings as well as the residential market in the face of higher interest rates continue to influence my views. These events have interjected more uncertainty in the marketplace; however, the market continues to take the events in stride.

Some of our clients have taken advantage of the uncertainty by making acquisitions. Those purchases run the spectrum from single loans to portfolios of CRE, and companies. At the same time, some clients have made the decision to cut their losses by selling distressed or slowing acquisitions. Some of the sound guidance that I have believe is relevant for today’s uncertain environment includes enhancing market surveillance, aggressively work to improve the use of research and data in your decisions, and to strengthen the balance sheet. 

Gary Bechtel: We continue to be very optimistic about the CRE business for the balance of 2025 and beyond. We have seen excellent month-over-month loan volume and the quality of deal flow has continued to increase since the end of Q1, when a number of traditional lenders pulled back from the bridge space. We’re also seeing a good mix of acquisition and refinance requests from experienced sponsors across core asset classes and markets.