Livingston Hessam, Senior Director of Capital Markets Real Estate Finance, Walker & Dunlop

July 2026 — In an interview with Invest:, Livingston Hessam, senior director of Capital Markets Real Estate Finance at Walker & Dunlop, shares his perspective on capital markets and development trends in Tampa Bay. Despite ongoing volatility, he notes that “there is more capital available today than at any point in my 22-year career,” creating opportunities for experienced and well-capitalized operators.

Reflecting on the past year, what changes have most impacted Walker & Dunlop, and in what ways?

Over the past year, our core mission has remained the same: deploying ideas and capital to help create communities where people live, work, shop, and play. While we haven’t yet announced full-year 2025 financial results, it was a stronger year than 2024 in terms of transaction activity.

In the Tampa Bay area alone, we closed nearly $1 billion in total transactions across approximately 25 deals, including both financing and investment sales. That level of activity highlights the impact we’re having and the value we’re adding across the greater Tampa Bay market.

Another key shift has been the continued expansion of private capital. We’re seeing more private lenders establish a physical presence in Tampa Bay, which reinforces the market’s growing importance on both a regional and national level.

What indicators are you watching to determine when transaction activity will pick up further?

One of the most important indicators is the bid-ask gap. Over the past year, we’ve seen that gap begin to narrow between what sellers expect and what buyers are willing to pay. As a result, transaction activity in Tampa Bay increased in 2025 compared to 2024 across virtually every product type.

Interest rates remain somewhat volatile, but they’ve stabilized relative to prior years. More importantly, there is financing capital available for nearly every deal. While pricing may not be as attractive for lower-credit or higher-risk profiles, there is more capital available today than at any point in my 22-year career.

In fact, there is more capital than there are deals, which makes this an excellent environment for borrowers, particularly well-capitalized and experienced operators. Tampa Bay continues to attract institutional capital and remains one of the top targeted markets in the Southeast and across Florida.

Live-work-play developments continue to perform well in Tampa Bay. How are developers and capital partners balancing placemaking with rising costs and the need for workforce or affordable housing?

We continue to see large, mixed-use developments that integrate residential, office, retail, hospitality, and in some cases, condominium components. Most of these projects are multi-phased, and we’re now seeing second phases move forward at places like Water Street, Midtown, and Gasworx after the success of their initial phases.

The biggest challenges remain construction costs and interest rates, but later phases benefit from economies of scale. Infrastructure is already in place, land costs are lower, and developers have real data from the first phase to fine-tune rents and uses across asset classes.

Equity is currently the most difficult piece to secure — not financing capital. These are multi-billion-dollar projects, and having three major developments of this scale underway in Tampa speaks volumes about the city’s trajectory and continued investor confidence.

What other trends or challenges are most influential right now, and how is Walker & Dunlop responding?

Private capital continues to expand, particularly in the bridge loan space, which typically involves two- to three-year floating-rate loans. Many projects that broke ground in 2022 and 2023 are still stabilizing and aren’t yet ready for permanent financing or sale.

As a result, we’re highly focused on providing short-term, structured financing solutions, especially in Tampa Bay. While market fundamentals remain strong overall, certain submarkets are experiencing multifamily oversupply, which creates underwriting challenges. Concessions of two to three months are becoming more common, and structuring realistic exit scenarios requires experience.

Underwriting in this environment is as much an art as it is a science. Our scale, proprietary data, and technology, including AI integrated into our underwriting and analytics, are major differentiators for Walker & Dunlop.

How are you attracting, retaining, and developing people at the firm?

We’re consistently focused on recruiting top talent and remaining competitive. Our brand continues to grow nationally, supported by initiatives like the Walker Webcast, which has become a strong marketing and recruiting platform.

Technology is also a major draw. We continue to invest heavily in tech and AI. With more than 40 offices nationwide and expanding business lines, we strongly encourage internal mobility and career development.

We also have a robust underwriting training program based in our Bethesda headquarters. Many professionals start in underwriting and transition into production or leadership roles. As a top agency lender, we believe people who want to learn underwriting want to learn from the best.

Finally, office location matters. Our Tampa office in Water Street offers a true live-work-play environment, which is a powerful factor in attracting and retaining talent.

How is Walker & Dunlop engaging with the Tampa Bay community?

Our approach is relationship-focused rather than purely transactional. As one of the largest multifamily lenders in the country, we use our platform to drive meaningful change.

We remain deeply involved in affordable and mixed-income housing, including financing through our affordable equity and tax credit platforms, Qualified Opportunity Zone projects, and public-private partnerships. In Tampa Bay and across Florida, we work closely with municipalities to structure developments that serve teachers, first responders, and other essential workers alongside market-rate residents.

Our goal is to eliminate the stigma often associated with affordable housing by creating high-quality, mixed-income communities that feel no different than market-rate projects. As Tampa Bay continues to grow, these developments will become even more critical.

Looking ahead, what are your key priorities for the firm, the industry, and the region?

From a regional standpoint, infrastructure is a top priority. Tampa Bay’s rapid growth is placing strain on roads, utilities, schools, and transportation systems. Mass transit remains limited, and while projects like Brightline may eventually expand to Tampa, that’s still several years away.

Affordable housing is another critical focus. As a firm, we recently formed a joint venture with Pretium to create a bridge-to-agency loan product specifically for affordable housing. This is one way we’re working to expand capital availability across development, bridge, and permanent financing.

Finally, technology and AI are central to our future. We’re expanding our proprietary AI platform firmwide, allowing us to better organize and analyze data to help clients grow their businesses. Today, Walker & Dunlop is a vertically integrated commercial real estate finance company, and we intend to continue using our leadership position to drive innovation and positive change across the industry.