Summary

Today, the risk of terrorism remains as strong as ever. According to the 2025 Annual Threat Assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), “A diverse set of foreign actors are targeting U.S. health and safety, critical infrastructure, industries, wealth, and government. State adversaries and their proxies are also trying to weaken and displace U.S. economic and military power in their regions and across the globe.”

For more than two decades, the national terrorism insurance program established by the Terrorism Risk Insurance Act (TRIA) has made it possible for businesses to purchase the terrorism risk coverage that the private market alone cannot provide. RER supports a long-term reauthorization of TRIA and urges prompt congressional action to renew this critical program in advance of its expiration on Dec. 31, 2027.

Key Takeaways

Terrorism risk is a national security challenge that requires a federal solution.

TRIA has successfully maintained market stability for over 20 years at minimal taxpayer cost.

Without TRIA, terrorism risk coverage would become scarce or unaffordable, threatening economic
resilience and recovery.

Should a terrorist attack occur without adequate coverage in place, underinsured businesses will face the risk of ruin, with potentially catastrophic local economic effects, and the federal government will face significant pressure to hastily assemble financial assistance to underinsured victims.

Early reauthorization will ensure continued business confidence and prevent market disruption as the
program approaches its 2027 expiration.

To that end, the TRIA Program Reauthorization Act of 2026 (H.R. 7128) is currently moving through the U.S. House of Representatives. The bill aims to extend the Terrorism Risk Insurance Program for an additional seven years, moving the expiration date from Dec. 31, 2027, to Dec. 31, 2034.

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Summary

Nearly $983 billion of U.S. commercial real estate mortgages are estimated to mature in 2027. To help rebalance the wave of maturing loans, it is important to advance measures that will encourage additional capital formation and loan restructuring.

As urged by RER, a policy statement—Policy Statement on Prudent Commercial Real Estate Loan Accommodations and Workouts—issued by regulatory agencies encouraging financial institutions to work constructively with creditworthy borrowers on CRE loan workouts is helping to see loans through the current environment. Many of these loans require additional equity, and borrowers still need time to restructure this debt. Capital formation is vital to help restructure maturing debt and fill the equity gap. It is also important to avoid pro-cyclical regulatory actions.

Key Takeaways

Providing banks with the flexibility to work constructively with their borrowers during times of economic
stress has led to billions of dollars of loan restructurings and reduced undue stress in bank loan
portfolios.

The largest U.S. banks’ capital and liquidity levels have grown dramatically since the original Basel III
standards were implemented in 2013 in response to the 2008 Global Financial Crisis. Since 2009, Tier 1
capital has increased by 56 percent and Common Equity Tier 1 capital has tripled. Today, as the Federal Reserve recently observed, the U.S. “banking system is sound and resilient, with strong capital and liquidity.”

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Summary

The proliferation of natural catastrophe threats has raised concerns about commercial insurance coverage for real estate. These concerns have highlighted the lack of—and need for—insurance capacity and various lines of commercial insurance. Risks from natural disasters like floods, hurricanes, wildfires, hail, tornadoes, and drought cost the U.S. billions of dollars each year. Even if policyholders are able to find coverage for these various lines, prices are increasing dramatically. A lack of adequate coverage will lead to economic uncertainty, harm stakeholders, and undermine the growth of communities.

While commercial property rates are finally stabilizing or even decreasing for high-quality risks, casualty and liability lines continue to face significant upward pressure. Average rates are trending downward by 4.6 percent, with some well-maintained portfolios seeing decreases of 10 percent to 20 percent. A dominant driver for liability lines includes jury awards exceeding $10 million, which have increased by over 300 percent since 2020--particularly affecting the hospitality and real estate sectors.

Spending legislation passed this year has reauthorized the National Flood Insurance Program (NFIP) through Sept. 30, 2026.

RER, along with its industry partners, continues to work constructively with policymakers and stakeholders to address market failure and enact a long-term reauthorization of an improved NFIP.

Key Takeaways

After years of atypical weather patterns and historic losses from natural catastrophes attributed to climate change, economic damages have tripled in cost from just 10 years ago.

Severe storms have surpassed hurricanes as the costliest insured weather peril.

Properties previously considered low-risk are now being re-evaluated due to changes in drainage pressure and local infrastructure.

Due to cumulative construction inflation (up nearly 40 percent since 2020), many properties are currently insured below their actual replacement value.

Commercial property owners continue to take steps to mitigate the risk of natural disasters and potentially lower their insurance costs.

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Summary

The Corporate Transparency Act (CTA) requires certain companies to disclose information about their beneficial owners to the Treasury Department’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN). The goal was to create a national directory of beneficial owners to curb illicit finance, drug cartels, terrorist groups, and other harmful activities.

In March 2025, the Treasury Department announced it will suspend enforcement of the CTA for U.S. domestic reporting companies and their beneficial owners, focusing solely on foreign entities. This means U.S. commercial real estate entities are now exempt from providing beneficial ownership information to FinCEN.

FinCEN intends to issue new rules to narrow the scope of the CTA’s reporting requirements to only apply to foreignformed companies that have registered to do business in the U.S.

The Real Estate Roundtable (RER) continues to work with policymakers in support of a balanced approach that would inhibit illicit money laundering activity without the imposition of costly reporting requirements for real estate investors.

Key Takeaways

Treasury’s suspension of CTA enforcement for domestic entities significantly reduces compliance burdens for real estate businesses that rely on LLC structures.

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Summary

In 2023, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) proposed changes to require SEC-registered investment advisers to put all their clients’ assets, including all digital assets like Bitcoin and certain physical assets like real estate, with “qualified custodians.” The proposal would have required a written agreement between custodians and advisers, expanded the “surprise examination” requirements, and enhanced recordkeeping rules. These rules were originally designed for digital assets. The proposal’s “reasonable” safeguarding requirements are ambiguous as applied to real estate. Furthermore, the SEC’s release contained an inaccuracy regarding the way deeds evidencing ownership of real estate are recorded. RER opposed the proposed rule on real estate and pushed for an exception for real estate.

Following extensive industry pushback, particularly regarding its application to real estate, digital assets, and the high compliance costs for small firms, the SEC issued a notice on June 12, 2025, withdrawing the proposal.

Key Takeaways

The withdrawal of the SEC's proposed "Safeguarding Rule" in June 2025 is a major relief for the real estate industry. The proposal would have categorized physical real estate as a client "asset" requiring a qualified custodian, a requirement industry groups called "preposterous" and "unworkable.”

• Avoidance of Impossible Custody: Real estate assets cannot be physically "held" in a bank vault or brokerage account. Ownership is instead maintained through deeds and mortgages recorded at local government offices. The withdrawal prevents a conflict where advisers would have been required to place these physical assets with custodians who were often unwilling or unable to accept them.
• No Mandatory Independent Verification for Every Transaction: The proposed rule would have required an independent public accountant to verify every purchase, sale, or transfer of a real estate asset within one business day. This would have introduced significant delays and high costs to real estate closings.
• Preservation of Existing Safeguards: Real estate remains governed by the original 2015 Custody Rule, which generally does not apply to a real estate partnership's physical assets unless the partnership itself is an advisory client. Existing state and local laws for recording deeds and mortgages continue to serve as the primary protection against misappropriation.
• Reduced Compliance Costs for Smaller Advisers: Smaller real estate investment firms avoided the "death by a thousand cuts" described by the RER, including expensive new surprise audits and written custodial agreements that would have been required under the expanded scope.
• Capital formation is vital when credit markets tighten to restructure maturing debt.

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Summary

On Sept. 19, 2025, the White House released an Executive Order, fact sheet, and website announcing Gold and Platinum “Trump Cards.” The program is intended to grant permanent residency in the U.S. for immigrants with high net worth. The administration’s announcement directs the Secretaries of Commerce, State, and Homeland Security to coordinate and establish a program that expedites “green cards” issued under the EB-1 and EB-2 visa categories for foreign nationals who make a “significant financial gift to the Nation.”

Key Takeaways

The new Trump Cards and the EB-5 visa program provide separate visa pathways to attract global capital and top-tier talent.

Trump Cards do not and legally cannot replace EB-5 visas.

The EB-5 program is the established, statutorily authorized pathway to attract foreign investors to the U.S. It has delivered $350 billion in economic impact and created over 1.5 million American jobs—at no cost to taxpayers—and should continue to be fully supported by Congress and the administration.

Congress should permanently authorize the EB-5 program. It should give the foreign investment market stability by authorizing regional centers in 2026, ahead of their scheduled expiration in 2027.

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Summary

On Aug. 7, 2025, President Trump issued an Executive Order entitled, “Democratizing Access to Alternative Assets for 401(k) Investors,” signaling a fundamental shift in federal policy regarding access to asset classes previously reserved for institutional investors.

The Executive Order aims to allow ordinary workers to invest in alternative assets such as private equity and real estate through their 401(k) plans. The initiative seeks to reduce regulatory obstacles for plan fiduciaries and clarify their duties through ongoing work by the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and the U.S. Securities & Exchange Commission (SEC).

The DOL released a proposed rule on advisors’ duties when recommending alternative investments for defined contribution plans on March 30, 2026.

Key Takeaways

In the August order, President Trump directed the DOL to propose new regulations on alts in retirement plans subject to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA) within six months. It also directed the DOL to work with other regulators to determine necessary rule changes to ease alternative investment access in 401(k)s, and for the SEC to help with that effort in participant-directed retirement plans.

While such alternative investments have long been part of defined-benefit plan portfolios, such as pensions, they are not expressly barred from defined contribution plans. Nonetheless, fiduciary rules make it challenging to include them in 401(k)s.

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