Commercial real estate transactions have slowed down noticeably as the Australian economy digests the economic impact from COVID-19, according to Andrew Schwartz of Qualitas. But despite this, alternative lenders like his are seeing a sharp increase in lending opportunities.

“If we think about the banks over the last three months… they’ve been very focussed on their existing asset portfolio. If you look at the foreign lenders, many of those lenders have been more focussed on their home domestic markets than Australia.”

As a result, Schwartz says alternative lenders are well-placed to pick up more business and issue loans to quality borrowers on attractive terms. Here, he expands on this trend and discusses whether credit quality is holding up, and why commercial real estate prices are likely to go sideways rather than down. 

This is the first of a series of 3 videos where Andrew will be discussing what makes a good property, how to keep your investment strategy in check and more. Click the 'follow' button below to be notified when the next video is published.

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