Biscred’s 24 CRE asset classes (alphabetical)
 
Affordable housing
Affordable housing refers to residential properties that are rented to tenants at a lower cost, usually in coordination with government agencies or grants (low-income housing tax credit, or LIHTC). Often the properties are apartments, but they can be single-family homes. These are commercial properties that were built, zoned and marketed as low-income, high-density living, or crisis housing. HUD (US Department of Housing and Urban Development) defines affordable housing as paying no more than 30 percent of gross income for housing and utility expenses.
 
Aviation
Aviation CRE includes public and private air fields, airplane hangars, airports, airparks, airport land, landing areas, aviation schools, and aviation maintenance facilities.
 
Communications
Biscred lists communications assets as telecommunication properties and facilities, and include network cabling, communication towers, cell towers, wireless and broadband utilities, telephony installations, and security systems.
 
Data centers
Data centers are large buildings, or sections of buildings, that house data installations, colocation service centers, digital asset management centers, and all their hardware and components. Data centers can store, process and transmit enormous amounts of data.
 
Education
This class of assets includes public schools, private schools, higher education, trade schools, and training centers, as well as the dwellings and structures you’d find on campuses (including utility structures). It does not include student housing, which has its own asset class; nor does it include stadiums and sports complexes, which are included in the entertainment facilities asset category.
 
Energy
This asset category comprises natural gas production facilities, oil production facilities, utility company properties, public and private energy facilities, nuclear power plants, and gas and fuel stations. This asset class does not include sustainable energy, which has its own asset category. 
 
See: How smart solar companies use data to generate leads
 
Entertainment facilities
This special use category of CRE assets encompasses structures and real estate that is intended for entertainment and leisure use, typically by groups of people. Examples: theaters, amusement parks, golf courses, fitness facilities, museums, theaters and cinemas, RV resort properties and campgrounds, gaming properties and casinos, convention centers, stadiums, arenas, sports complexes, cultural and art centers, community centers, and senior centers. There can be overlap between entertainment facilities and government (federal campgrounds, for example). 
 
Government
This class of CRE assets is defined as property owned and operated by local, regional, state and federal governments. It includes military bases, courthouses and judicial complexes, post offices, prisons and detention facilities, fire and police stations, ports, federal facilities, libraries, and civic centers. The government asset category does not include infrastructure, which has its own asset category. It may overlap with multifamily housing (military housing) and entertainment (federally owned and operated parks and attractions). 
 
Healthcare
This includes patient-centered medical facilities including hospitals, clinics, out-patient centers, and rehabilitation centers. It does not include laboratory and research (see life sciences).
 
Hospitality
CRE in the hospitality asset class refers to not only motels, hotels, and inns, but also short- and long-term travel accommodations, for both business and leisure. Hospitality assets also include restaurants, wineries and breweries; commercial kitchens and food service facilities; and country clubs (but not golf courses -- see entertainment). This asset category may overlap with retail, especially if the restaurant, hotel or entertainment destination includes shopping. 
 
See: Hospitality CRE guide
 
Industrial
Industrial CRE includes facilities that accommodate heavy manufacturing, light manufacturing, assembly, warehousing, flex industrial, refrigeration and cold storage, industrial parks, logistics hubs, and distribution centers. There may be some overlap or mixed-used cases with industrial office complexes.
 
See: Industrial real estate guide
 
Infrastructure 
The infrastructure asset class encompasses wastewater treatment services, road and highway companies and contractors, bridges, utility companies, ports (physical structures) and tunnels. It’s not unusual to have a company dually tagged with infrastructure and energy, or government and infrastructure.  
 
Land
This all-encompassing category refers to any undeveloped land. It also includes companies that perform surveying and geotechnical services. This category doesn’t include land that has been purchased for a specific purpose, such as for master-planned communities. 
 
Life sciences
Life science CRE refers to laboratory spaces, biological research facilities, pharmaceutical companies, and buildings that house companies dedicated to scientific discoveries. It includes pharmacy retail stores, which may overlap with the retail asset category. 
 
See: Guide to CRE in life sciences
 
Mixed use
As the name implies, mixed-use CRE refers to any combination of asset classes, such as residential and retail, office and retail, residential and office, etc. Examples include live-work-play communities, industrial flex spaces, and hotels that also include permanent residential units.
 
Multifamily
These commercial properties are rental homes that contain more than one unit or tenant. They include: apartments, villas, townhouses, duplexes, triplexes, quad-plexes, and high-rise apartments that are income-generating properties (and not low-income or crisis housing). There could be overlap with the government category in the case of military housing. There could also be overlap with affordable housing. 
 
See: Multi-family housing guide, Biscred CRE Asset Class: Multifamily Properties
 
Office
Primarily zoned for administrative-type businesses, office buildings include high-rises, mid-rises, and low-rise, as well as office parks and skyscrapers. Call centers, coworking spaces, flex office spaces, and corporate headquarters are found in CRE office spaces. 
 
See: Office space CRE guide 
 
Parking
This class of CRE refers to public and private for-profit or fee-based parking lots, garages and structures.
 
Railroad
Railroads in CRE refers to public and privately operated, light rail, freight rail, and passenger rail, as well as companies that build and maintain them. 
 
Retail
Retail CRE is anywhere that goods are sold. It includes malls, shopping centers, strip malls, gas stations, car washes, power centers, fashion centers, factory outlets, big box retailers, and freestanding retail buildings. There could be overlap between retail and hospitality, especially in the cases of hotels and tourist destinations that include shopping.
 
See: 13 types of retail buildings
 
Self storage
Self-storage includes drive-up storage, climate controlled, business storage, residential self-storage, vehicle storage, student and military storage.
 
Senior living
Senior living commercial properties are multifamily structures intended for older residents. They can be age-restricted communities, short- and long-term care, memory care, senior apartments, age-restricted rental communities, retirement homes, and nursing homes. They are often adjacent to or near medical centers.
 
Student housing
Student housing can refer to on- or off-campus student dwellings, such as dormitories, apartments, and houses that are owned and operated by colleges and universities or that are owned and operated by companies for the sole purpose of housing students. 
 
Sustainable energy
These facilities include wind farms, hydropower stations, solar companies, and renewable energy properties and assets.
 
See: Sustainability in CRE development 
 
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