Dive Brief:
- Commercial real estate finance and advisory services firm Walker & Dunlop expanded its investment sales business into hospitality, the company announced last week.
- Walker & Dunlop’s new hospitality practice will facilitate the origination and execution of hospitality investment sales and financing across the U.S. The firm appointed hospitality investment professional Jonathan Morrow to lead the new practice as senior managing director.
- Historically focused on multifamily real estate, Walker & Dunlop is making the strategic move into hospitality as the market shows “resilience post pandemic,” according to the firm. Hospitality pros have recently forecasted that hotel sales transactions will see a swift increase in 2025 amid lowering interest rates.
Dive Insight:
Walker & Dunlop expands its investment business into hospitality as the industry sees strong growth fundamentals, particularly in major urban markets, according to the firm.
Urban areas are experiencing hotel performance growth “driven by business and leisure travel, which has pushed average daily rates in certain metros above their pre-pandemic averages,” Walker & Dunlop detailed in a release.
Commercial real estate services company JLL similarly reported in August that urban markets show promise for hotel performance and investment growth, as they are experiencing “robust RevPAR” from the resurgence of group, corporate and international travel. Manhattan is one of those markets.
In addition to strengthening travel fundamentals, anticipated interest rate cuts and maturing debt will spur hotel investment in the coming months, hospitality CEOs forecasted at this year’s Lodging Conference in Phoenix.
U.S. hotel investment will pick up starting next month and snowball in 2025, Kevin Davis, Americas CEO at JLL Hotels & Hospitality Group, predicted at the conference.
Currently, total single-asset hotel transaction volume for deals larger than $200 million is at its highest level in eight years, according to JLL.
Leading Walker & Dunlop’s foray into hospitality is Jonathan Marrow, who, prior to joining the firm, spent more than 15 years at real estate company Hodges Ward Elliott, leading its New York City hotel team and completing more than $20 billion in lodging transactions.
Morrow’s “deep knowledge of the hospitality industry, transaction track record, and leadership capabilities make him the perfect person to lead this expansion for our company,” Walker & Dunlop Chairman and CEO Willy Walker said in a statement.
