Commercial real-estate investors run for the exits

Investors in commercial real-estate are running for the exits. As debt costs soar and return-to-work realism sets in over the office market, investors in Barry Sternlicht’s property fund tried to pull $500 million, or about 5% of the fund’s assets.

Starwood Real Estate Income Trust, like most nontraded real-estate funds, caps withdrawals to 2% of assets each month, and so gave investors about a third of what they asked for, in part by selling assets and tapping its $1.5 billion credit line.

Blackstone’s version, known as BREIT, has also seen withdrawals exceed the monthly cap, though the firm found the cash in March to satisfy all requests.