When times get tough for real estate, Eric Adler keeps his confidence that the rewards will be worth the risks. “Some of my bigger, long-term convictions go through a rough short and medium term,” says the chief executive of PGIM Real Estate, part of the $1.4tn (£1.1tn) asset management arm of Prudential Financial. Adler is talking about London, the city he has called home for more than a decade now, and the challenges it faces to remain a leading real estate investment destination. But he could equally be talking about the office market as companies realize that working from home, well, works. Or the many other areas of real estate investment being buffeted by the headwinds of the Covid-19 pandemic.
Over the course of a near-25-year career in real estate investment, US-born Adler has seen enough ups and downs to take current market conditions in his stride. Relaxed and personable in conversation, he talks frequently of long-term views of the market, of making it through crises and out the other side.
But there is realism in the rhetoric too, and Adler knows that real estate markets face difficulties as the pandemic plays out. His goal is to make sure that PGIM Real Estate can put its money to work even as those challenges arise. Every crisis is different, but the results of one can influence reactions to the next. Adler arrived at PGIM Real Estate in 2010 from Tishman Speyer, where he had been co-head for Europe. Like many of its peers, the company was emerging from the great financial crisis that had engulfed markets for the previous years.