Day One - Tuesday, September 15 - PST
This opening, data-driven presentation sets the strategic backdrop for the conference, connecting macroeconomic and geopolitical forces with on-the-ground rental market realities facing middle-market multifamily owners, operators, developers, investors, and property managers. The session examines how interest rates, capital flows, inflation, insurance costs, and labor dynamics are reshaping housing demand and operating costs across the U.S., with a distinct focus on Southern California. Attendees will gain a clear-eyed view of how Los Angeles, Orange County, San Diego, Ventura, and the Inland Empire differ from one another and from high-supply Sunbelt markets through regulatory complexity, chronic undersupply, affordability pressure, and selective new deliveries and what those differences mean for underwriting, operations, and portfolio strategy.
- Kimberly Byrum - Managing Principal, Multifamily, Zonda Advisory
This strategic panel brings together experienced middle-market owners, operators, and investors to examine how Southern California's distinct submarkets are performing and diverging in 2026. Panelists compare on-the-ground realities across San Diego, Orange County, Los Angeles, Ventura, and the Inland Empire, discussing rent growth trajectories, regulatory intensity, supply-demand dynamics, cap rate spreads, and where they see the best risk-adjusted opportunities today. As the region navigates a slower, more selective cycle, attendees will gain actionable insights on submarket positioning, capital allocation decisions, and what separates outperforming assets from underperformers across coastal and inland markets.
With new Class-A deliveries thinning across most of Southern California and demand for attainable housing persistent, value-add and workforce housing have become compelling middle-market opportunities for the 2026–27 cycle. Active owners, operators, investors, and developers explore the practical realities of modernizing existing inventory: identifying the right assets, scoping cost-effective renovations, underwriting rent premiums, navigating workforce housing incentives and tax credits, and preserving affordability while achieving returns in a high-barrier region.
Active multifamily lenders and experienced borrowers discuss which Southern California deals are getting financed today, how credit teams are structuring risk, and how owners and investors can best align transactions with current lender expectations against the backdrop of expanded 2026 agency lending caps and returning lending liquidity.
Southern California multifamily owners face surging premiums, carrier pullbacks, and heightened climate risk from wildfires, earthquakes, and flooding while simultaneously managing runaway operating expenses including payroll and insurance costs that are squeezing NOI across the region. Insurance brokers, risk managers, lenders, and operators discuss securing adequate coverage in a hard market, implementing cost-control strategies that protect margins, navigating lender requirements, exploring captive insurance and alternative solutions, and building climate resilience into underwriting and asset management. This session addresses one of 2026's most urgent operational and financial challenges with practical, actionable strategies for controlling expenses while maintaining adequate protection.
As Southern California's multifamily market recalibrates, a growing pipeline of distressed assets, loan workouts, and forced sales is creating selective opportunities for experienced capital. Special servicers, workout specialists, and opportunistic investors discuss sourcing off-market deals, navigating receiverships, underwriting challenged properties, and executing repositioning strategies under compressed timelines. Panelists share practical insights on lender negotiations, capital structure, and how to distinguish genuine opportunities from value traps in a market where distress doesn't always mean discount.
Discover the latest innovations transforming the multifamily sector. This fast-paced showcase features cutting-edge PropTech and AI solutions designed to enhance operational efficiency, improve resident experiences, and drive portfolio performance.
Equity is the most selective part of today's multifamily capital stack, particularly in Southern California where regulation, slower rent growth, and longer holds have reshaped return expectations. In this candid fireside conversation, a seasoned equity investor shares unfiltered insights into what truly drives investment decisions today from submarket selection and underwriting discipline to partnership criteria and timing.
Attendees will gain a rare, behind-the-scenes perspective on how institutional investors, family offices, and private equity groups evaluate risk and opportunity in SoCal's middle-market multifamily space and what it takes to earn their capital in a cautious cycle.