"Do we want to continue owning this?" That’s the question real estate magnate Sam Zell asked repeatedly at the 21st Annual REIT Symposium at NYC's Pierre Hotel this week, addressing his organization’s takeover of CommonWealth REIT.

And in the case of CommonWealth, the answer has often been “no.”

Around half of the former REIT’s portfolio has already been sold off, GlobeSt reports—a common theme for Zell lately.

Back in December, the 74-year-old billionaire warned of a recession in 2016, dumping assets en masse to prepare for the downturn.

However the 74-year-old billionaire is taking a softer stance these days, saying that while his prediction was "realistic” at the time. And while we're still in the 9th inning, he says, the US economy, at the moment, "is doing pretty well.”

And looking at business in general, Zell says it's critical to analyze potential acquisitions on an asset-by-asset basis. On the REIT front, Zell adds that he continues to believe in "continued consolidation."

At the moment, he says, there are too many small REITs that have trouble even creating liquidity. [GS]