REC USA Awards 2022: Outstanding achievement

The commercial real estate debt markets faced generational challenges in 2022. But there were bright spots of activity which will set the stage for a new cycle.

The US commercial real estate market saw a strong start to 2022 followed by an unexpected downturn, driven by rising inflation and interest rates in the second half of the year. The economic outlook at the end of the year was particularly hard to call.

Even so, many bank and non-bank lenders remained active despite the uncertainty. Real Estate Capital USA’s 2022 Awards honor the standout deals and players at this inflection point for the market.

The awards process began last November when our editorial team invited submissions for more than 20 categories. After sifting through the entries, conducting additional proprietary research and canvassing opinions across the industry, we then drew up shortlists of four for each category and put them to a public vote in January. The process lasted one month and voters could only vote for other companies.

Now, here comes the announcement of the winners. Standout was the private equity firm KKR, which won multiple trophies across fields from the Alternative Lender of the Year to Large-Ticket Lending. The firm’s different subsidiaries also received awards in mortgage REIT, debt advisory team and investment financing deal categories. Rival Blackstone, meanwhile, led in the multifamily and hospitality lending scenes while driving the forces in originating construction loans across US markets.

As well as the more conventional property types, the REC USA 2022 Awards also have categories to track the development of newer and niche sectors, with Brookfield winning Life Sciences Lender of the Year, Goldman Sachs acclaiming the Data Science Lender award and Affinius Capital standing out among logistics lenders nationally. 

Last, but not least, the West Coast-based Way Capital, a new entrant to the market, won the award for Boutique Debt Adviser of the Year in its first year of operations.