Blackstone Inc. (NYSE:BX) Q4 2023 Earnings Call Transcript

And you look across our portfolio in direct lending and defaults are almost non-existent, which is quite remarkable. So the platform seems to be in good shape. There may be more capital coming to the space, but I think there’ll be more deal flow as well. And so that’s the positive.

Operator: Our final question will come from the line of Arnaud Giblat with BNP.

Arnaud Giblat: I was wondering if you could discuss the outlook for performance fee related revenue at BREIT and BPP in 2024, given what you’ve said on high levels of competition in multifamily and what that does to rent growth? And also, given the potential for falling rates in the US, how should we think about the potential for lower cap rates in valuations versus the movement in hedges?

Stephen Schwarzman: Well, I would say this, I go back to the big picture here, which we talked about, which is we do think we’re seeing a bottoming in values, but we don’t think this is some sort of -shaped recovery. And so, for us, we’ve said we think it’s a very good time for deployment. Putting your finger on exactly what values will move to, it’s hard to do. But certainly rates coming down, new supply coming down are helpful for the sector. I would say this, I would expect this year will certainly be better, would be my expectation from a valuation standpoint relative to 2023. But making predictions on exactly where it lands, I think that’s tough to do this early in the year, but there are some good fundamental things happening on the ground.

Operator: That will conclude our question-and-answer session. I’d like to turn the call back over to Weston Tucker for any additional or closing remarks.

Weston Tucker : Great. Thank you, everyone, for joining us today and look forward to following up after the call.