Question about the role of Capital Markets in commercial RE
Hello,

I am struggling to understand what Capital Markets means in a CRE setting. Yes, I have googled and read the defintion many times but i'm struggling to understand what people in CRE who work in "Capital Markets" do. For examples, if an employees title is "Managing Director, Capital Markets" what does that mean? How does their work differ from say just an analyst? Any insight is appreciated!
[{"id": "gmpo848", "text": "They are basically anyone with the \"keys\" to the money. Lending institutions, investors, etc. You can think of capital like any other commodity. There is a \"market\" for it, in that you can go to one place and they quote you a \"price\" for their capital (the interest rate, fees, etc) and then go somewhere else and try to find cheaper money.", "replies": [{"id": "gmqa4t4", "text": "Expanding on that, their job is to understand the different capital markets that they have access to, and recommend different areas. They take that info and advise teams weather they should be borrowing now, refinancing properties, etc. Also, a big part of their job is trying, within reason, to forecast what capital markets might look like down the line. By doing that, they also advice teams on if now is the best time to do a certain project/imitative.", "replies": [{"id": "gmqak6t", "text": "Indeed. If one team didn't specialize in say, hospitals, they may be able to connect you to the appropriate folks. They will know about different debt products that are available that may fit your project. For example, i have a deal that is going to be rehabbed. Our lender suggested we look into a Fannie Mae green loan since we are already pursuing an energy retrofit. This may give us better terms and more loan proceeds.", "replies": [], "depth": 3}], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gmpu8lh", "text": "Think of them as brokers (investment sales). Connecting sellers to buyers and vice versa. They work in transactional environments: facilitating transfer of capital between a seller and a buyer universe. \n\nFor example, the CBRE Capital Markets team will pitch an investor for a sell-side mandate (i.e. convince the seller to sell an asset for them by using the CBRE Capital Markets team), put together a nice brochure and investment materials (rent roll, cash flow projections, CGIs if its a development, lease summaries, etc.), reach out to their other clients (buyers) to see if they're interesting in buying the seller's asset, asset tours, Q&amp;A, other DD, assistance with PSA (purchaser-seller agreement), and a few more small things. Once the sale agreement is finalized, money is transferred from buyer to seller, and CBRE will take a cut (usually 0.5-1%) of the agreed transaction price. This cut is paid by the seller as CBRE, in this example, is acting as an agent in the interest of the seller. The buyer may have its own advisors which they'll pay separately.\n\nMost brokers now have debt teams to help their clients refinance. Also part of the capital markets team in most instances.", "replies": [{"id": "gmrjv3k", "text": "This is the answer...", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gmqcu7a", "text": "Capital markets encompasses investment sales and structuring debt/equity. Every brokerage usually has 2 arms to their capital markets. Investment sales and debt and equity. Those then may be broken further down into asset class at such as some of the larger brokerages.", "replies": [{"id": "gmr5nna", "text": "At the biggest brokerages, like CBRE, this is true.\n\nElsewhere, the title \"Capital Markets\" might mean any number of things. But it always has to do with money.", "replies": [], "depth": 2}], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gmqwdlb", "text": "It means they work with properties typically held as investments for investors.  There is a scale to this, and as others mentioned they typically are involved in financial projections and putting deals together with debt/equity brokerage as well.  Typically its your larger apartments, office buildings, retail centers, STNNN's etc.  \n\nThe key difference is neither the buyer or seller has a personal business interest in these properties typically.  It is like buying or selling a stock for them.  They are essentially working with capital not business operations", "replies": [], "depth": 1}, {"id": "gms73ew", "text": "It\u2019s a buzz word used by guys in Investment Sales.", "replies": [], "depth": 1}]