Steve Crosson

There’s an emerging dichotomy among large real estate funds that are seeking to raise cash for new investment. On one hand, Blackstone Group LP has raised in excess of $10 billion in less than 12 months. On the other, funds such as Apollo have had difficulty in achieving planned fund sizes.

For the uninitiated, there’s an upcoming real estate event like no other. It’s Fight Night, presented by The Real Estate Council on May 3 at the Hilton Anatole.

Thankfully, owners of rental apartments in Texas need not be concerned about government-mandated rent controls. But for those with investments in other areas that have such laws, the ramifications of a current challenge to rent control, aka “rent stabilization," may be profound.

The forecasting of commercial real estate performance has historically focused primarily on supply in the supply-demand equation. Prior to the mid-1990s, there was some logic in so doing, as downturns were typically caused by excessive capital, which led to ruinous overbuilding. The tacit assumption was that demand levels would continue at least at current levels and would probably increase.

Businesspeople know that Texas is a great place for enterprise of all types. The explanation of why this is so includes the obvious (relatively low rates of taxation, the paucity of union influence, the pro-business stance of government, and so on). However, such explanations don’t go to the heart of what makes the Lone Star State unique.