Commercial real estate buyers are reopening deals signed earlier this year after the Federal Reserve’s September rate increase, a trend that Daniel Kaufman, founder and CEO of Kaufman & Company, says is separating capital that can close from capital that cannot. The Fed raised its benchmark rate by a quarter percentage point on Sept. 16, and minutes released Oct. 7 showed most officials believe another increase would likely be appropriate by year end.
Since then, The Wall Street Journal and trade outlets including CRE Daily and Citybiz have reported buyers pressing to renegotiate deals signed earlier in 2026, with some threatening to walk away. Trepp data cited in that coverage show 11.42% of CMBS loans were with special servicers in August, the highest share since February 2013.
“A retrade is a buyer telling a seller the deal was really a bet on the rate,” Kaufman said. “When the rate moves, the price moves, and everyone downstream waits. The sellers, contractors and towns counting on those projects carry that uncertainty. We invest our own capital, so our underwriting has to work without assuming the next Fed decision goes our way.”
Kaufman said the moment favors long-term owners over buyers whose returns depend on a narrow financing window, particularly in housing, where a stalled closing can push back construction and leave homes unbuilt. “This is when family office capital should earn its keep,” he said. “We are not looking to win by grinding down a seller who negotiated in good faith. We want to be the partner people can count on at the closing table, because on a housing deal a delay is not a line item; it is fewer homes for the people who need them.”
Kaufman & Company invests only its own capital and does not raise outside funds, a structure that Kaufman argues allows it to underwrite without relying on the next rate move. Its operating companies span housing development, design and construction, real estate consulting and venture investment, and this month the company announced BUILD 2030, a national initiative coordinating its housing, real estate and AI infrastructure work. The platform represents more than $2 billion in project value and more than 10,000 housing units across more than 25 years of building, lending and investing, according to the company.
The retrade wave matters beyond individual transactions because it introduces delays that can ripple through local economies. Sellers, contractors and municipalities counting on projects face uncertainty when closings stall, and in housing, delays can translate directly into fewer homes at a time when supply is already constrained. Kaufman’s comments suggest that family offices and other permanent capital holders could play a stabilizing role by stepping in when leveraged buyers retreat, though the firm’s own approach is limited to its balance sheet. Kaufman & Company is a permanent capital holding company founded by Daniel Kaufman and the trade name of Kaufman Family Office LLC and Kaufman Real Estate & Consulting LLC. More information is available at thekaufmanco.com.
