Morris Chen, leader of DoubleLine’s Commercial Mortgage-Backed Securities/Commercial Real Estate Debt team, on Feb. 20, 2025, joins 00:00 Bloomberg Television’s Katie Greifeld and Vonnie Quinn to discuss the state of commercial real estate, opportunities in CRE debt investing and his team’s preferred property types. Regarding the latter, Mr. Chen, who also is portfolio manager of DoubleLine Commercial Real Estate ETF, describes industrial, retail and multi-family housing as falling in the “middle of the fairway” for his team. He is “not shying away” from office space 01:37, finding opportunities in securitized credit backed by “higher quality, newer vintage buildings,” while steering clear of “Class B, older” properties. In terms of relative valuations within the fixed income universe, Mr. Chen notes that 02:55 CMBS offers a pickup in yield spread relative corporate credit at comparable credit ratings. Asked about data centers and their AI-driven buildout, Mr. Chen notes that he’s “staying on the sidelines at this juncture.” Data-center properties, he says, do not offer to his eye a compelling case as collateral underlying CRE debt in the event of default. He wants to see wider spreads commensurate with the “the unknown risks of this new property type.”
Mr. Chen joined DoubleLine at its inception in 2009. He is a Portfolio Manager leading the CMBS/CRE Debt Investment team and CRE New Investment Review Group, and is responsible for the oversight and management of all CRE Debt related investments at DoubleLine. Mr. Chen is a permanent member of the Fixed Income Asset Allocation and Structured Products Committees providing valued insight into the CMBS sector. He is also an active participant and speaker at CREFC events. Prior to DoubleLine, Mr. Chen was a Vice President at TCW where he was responsible for CMBS credit analysis and trading from 2004-2009. He holds a BS in Business Administration with concentrations in Business Development and Finance from the University of California, Riverside.
