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A panel of experts at The Winchester Institute鈥檚 2026 Real Estate Outlook event shared an optimistic forecast with signs of renewed interest in quality office space, plenty of investment capital ready for intriguing projects, lower interest rates, and in some markets a fresh perspective on former go-to retail attractions such as shopping centers.
Auburn University鈥檚 , supported by the 91看片 and the , sponsors a series of events each year that connects the university and industry professionals in the real estate community.
The annual Outlook event addresses trends and expectations for the year ahead, and it was a full house on hand for the 2026 gathering.
鈥淚f this isn鈥檛 the largest, it鈥檚 one of the largest crowds we鈥檝e ever had at this symposium,鈥 said John Benner, the Institute鈥檚 executive director.
The five-member panel included a representative of five distinct fields interested in real estate matters: office, retail, industrial, multi-family and capital markets.
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Eckert is president of Americas Agency Leasing for JLL, a global professional services firm specializing in real estate and investment management. He feels the office sector in real estate 鈥渋s at an interesting time.鈥
鈥淥bviously, we were kind of kicked in the teeth when the pandemic started in March of 2020,鈥 Eckert said, referring to the beginning of an historic era when many offices closed their doors or implemented strict limits on office attendance to help prevent the spread of COVID-19.
That led to a new trend of employees working remote, a trend that has proven slow to reverse itself and leaving vacant office space surpluses in many markets. That trend, he said, has reversed itself with office attendance on average across the U.S. at four-plus days per week.
However, 鈥渨e started to see real momentum鈥 in 2024 and into 2025, not just in the number of transactions but the size of transactions, he said. 鈥淲e think that will continue in 2026.鈥
The market for leasing office space continues to define itself regarding today鈥檚 supply-and-demand considerations. Investors must decide what is good real estate, what office space is worthy of renovation, and what will be filled based on factors in tiers ranging from new construction to those that could be labeled as obsolete.
Upscale, remodeled and newer office space seems on the right track, while there remains a mix of approaches to plentiful middle-tier space. Investors face decisions, he said, such as having a property that might be considered good real estate, but are there issues with investing capital in it?
Among other observations after the pandemic, 鈥渃all centers likely are not coming back to occupancy levels that we once saw,鈥 Eckert said.
Looking ahead, he views artificial intelligence as a positive, with AI tools 鈥渃utting hours and hours out of the process,鈥 to which, Eckert says, 鈥淲e are giving back time to our brokers to interact with customers, and with more time, we can make more revenue for our clients and our brokers.鈥
Theodore, a managing director of real estate investment with the firm Eastdil Secured, traced history in the retail sector back to around 2017, 鈥渨hen everyone wanted to talk about e-commerce.鈥
Some asked, 鈥渨ill anyone ever want to go to a shipping center again?鈥 he said, or, 鈥淲hy would I want to go shopping in a mall?鈥
Then in 2023 the market began to see 鈥渆normous change in attitudes,鈥 with more investment and positive outlooks 鈥渨e really hadn鈥檛 heard in 8-10 years.鈥
鈥淭hat was a very, very, favorable trend line that we saw in 2025... We hope to see it continue in 2026,鈥 Theodore said. 鈥淲e took our licks in the retail space, but now it鈥檚 starting to pay off.鈥
Investors began asking, 鈥渉ow do you get people off e-commerce and out to your shopping centers?鈥 They began looking at projects as more of social gathering spaces, providing more food and beverage services, and developing places 鈥渨here communities can gather and get away from the screens,鈥 he said.
Box retailers also are looking at providing additional services, such as PetSmart offering veterinary services to lure more people inside their stores.
Other investors are looking at data centers, health care, telecable and fiber, and farmland, he said.
Lee is principal and co-founder of Growth Capital Partners, a Birmingham-based private real estate investment and management company, and he offered a different reflection on 2025.
From 2015 to 2023, 鈥渨e were the beneficiaries of e-commerce, so that was a nice ride for us,鈥 he said, but coming into 2024-25, 鈥渨e really had a slowdown.鈥
鈥淭he big change for us in 2025, and really for the first time since the Great Recession, we started to have oversupply in markets. We really hadn鈥檛 had that in a long time,鈥 Lee said, pointing to significant increases in vacancy rates except in strong markets such as Dallas and Houston.
Finding space for warehouse projects can be challenging, he said, because of all the consumption for data centers. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a significant impact.鈥
His company today looks for projects 鈥渁 bit contrarian鈥 to normal trends, Lee said, where 鈥渨e try to get in front of that herd鈥 looking for niches 鈥渨here the institutional player doesn鈥檛 want to be there.鈥
Smith is founder and president of Framework Group and leads its efforts and strategic plans for developing diverse multi-family housing projects throughout the Southeast.
鈥淚n the multi-housing world... we had a huge amount of supply come into the pipeline post-COVID,鈥 he said. After weathering the storms, 鈥渏ust now at the end of this year, we鈥檙e starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel, a light that we thought we鈥檇 see a year ago.鈥
More multi-family deals are getting done, and especially in markets with rent growth, he said, but 鈥渋t鈥檚 been mostly headwinds in the multifamily housing world. It will probably take until the end of this year to come out of that supply glut, in my estimation.鈥
Affordability is a factor, Smith said, as investors and consumers weigh benefits between ownership and rental.
Renters who are 鈥渆conomically healthier,鈥 he said, are being lured by landlords using tactics such as giveaways and fringe benefits.
Norwood works as a managing director with JLL Capital Markets and said in 2025, 鈥渨e started to see the banking sector get back in the game.鈥
Retail, multi-family housing and office real estate are making good recovery, he said. 鈥淩etail has been absolutely on fire.鈥
Lender activity is up and perhaps most significant going into 2026 is the amount of capital sitting on the sidelines, with one projection of 鈥$1.2 trillion that are trying to get into the game.鈥
鈥淭he debt market had an amazing year,鈥 Norwood said, 鈥渄riven by a ton of refinance activity.鈥
Regarding equity, 鈥渟ome of it, if you don鈥檛 use it, you鈥檝e got to give it back, and nobody wants to do that,鈥 he said, predicting more investment confidence in other sectors as well, such as office space and manufacturing housing. 鈥淚 think that鈥檚 where you鈥檙e going to see the dollars flow; people picking a horse and making a bet.鈥
JLL also is investing heavily in technology, Norwood said, to the tune of about $400 million. He looks for it to save time to redirect personnel to more important duties.
鈥淲e have to process wild amounts of information, pretty quickly,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t is in no way, shape or form replacing the analyst... but changing the analyst鈥檚 job... making us drastically more efficient.鈥
Greg Winchester, the founder of Winchester Institute, was in attendance for the event and said he was impressed with the insight shared, noting a few market observations of his own.
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Greg Winchester (left) speaks with panelist Bobby Norwood of JLL Capital Markets at the Outlook 2026 event. Photos by Julie Bennett |
鈥淚 really enjoyed learning more about the acceleration of office leasing in the higher quality office developments and how the market recovery has begun,鈥 he said. 鈥淚t will take a long time to clear a lot of the Class B and Class C product, but this is a bright beginning.鈥
Looking into 2026, 鈥渢here is a lot of capital on the sidelines waiting to buy nicer products, particularly multi-family. I鈥檓 hopeful that with lower interest rates and cap rates, this capital will be unleashed and help rebalance the market,鈥 Winchester said. 鈥淭he slowdown in the deliveries in 2026 and 2027 along with supply/demand dynamics coming in line makes this a real possibility.鈥
He praised Auburn鈥檚 organizers of the session and those who participated.
鈥淭his is one of the landmark annual events of the Institute in terms of industry engagement, and I believe it鈥檚 our sixth one,鈥 Winchester said. 鈥淚t was terrific to see many leading industry practitioners, students and faculty engaging with each other throughout the evening.
鈥淭he Institute is becoming a premier institution for the real estate industry in the Sunbelt to connect. I thought this was our best Outlook panel event to date and am grateful for the leadership of John Benner and the Institute team for making it a success!鈥
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