The present moment is a big one for alternative lenders, as banks and other financial institutions have slowed their commercial real estate activity dramatically.

Josh Zegen, the co-founder and managing principal of Madison Realty Capital, sees this also as a big opportunity to lend to other lenders, stepping in on projects that need some extra capital to cross the finish line.

"The biggest challenge amongst the alternative lending universe was a lot were very levered," Zegen said on this week's episode of Bisnow Reports. "They were levered through credit lines, they were levered through repo facilities, and one of the challenges right now, given the change in the markets, lenders are being asked to buy back loans that may be in default … or de-lever their portfolio."

Since the beginning of 2022, the firm has originated roughly $3B in loans. On the show, he talks about the financing markets right now, his sense of the relationship between the lenders and borrowers, and Madison Realty Capital's perspective on taking back properties from borrowers who can't pay off their debt.

Bisnow's audio series, Bisnow Reports, examines every facet of the international commercial real estate industry — from the murky future of retail and office to real estate’s reckoning with diversity to the effects of climate change on the built world, and so much more. You can subscribe on iTunes, Spotify and Amazon Music, or scroll down to listen in your browser.