Commercial real estate has spent the last three years serving as Wall Street’s favorite horror movie.

Every week seems to bring a new headline about empty office buildings, maturing loans, distressed refinancing, regional bank exposure, or the imminent collapse of the entire property market. If you listened only to financial television, you would assume every office tower in America was already being converted into a haunted house.

Reality, as usual, is a little more complicated.

Commercial real estate remains under pressure in several sectors. Office properties continue to work through the aftermath of remote and hybrid work arrangements. Multifamily landlords are still digesting a wave of new supply that hit Sun Belt markets. Refinancing costs remain well above the levels owners enjoyed during the era of near-zero interest rates.

At the same time, the broader property market has proven far more resilient than many expected.

Delinquency rates have increased but remain manageable outside a handful of troubled property types. Capital remains available. Private credit funds continue providing financing. Banks are extending and restructuring loans where appropriate. Occupancy remains healthy across many industrial, retail, medical office, self-storage, data center, and necessity-based property categories.

Much like the banking sector, commercial real estate appears to be dealing with selective stress rather than systemic collapse.

That distinction matters.

One of the more interesting developments over the past several months has been the increase in insider buying activity across the REIT sector. When directors, CEOs, chairmen, and senior executives begin purchasing shares with their own money, I pay attention.

Insiders sell for hundreds of reasons.

They buy for only one.

They believe the stock is worth more than the current price.

The current environment creates a particularly attractive setup for insider purchases. Many REITs continue to trade at substantial discounts to net asset value despite operating portfolios that remain fundamentally sound. Public market investors remain skeptical about property values, interest rates, and refinancing conditions.

Meanwhile, the people managing these portfolios can see the leasing activity, tenant demand, rent collections, refinancing discussions, and property-level cash flows every day.

If those executives believe the worst of the valuation decline is already reflected in stock prices, buying shares becomes a logical allocation of capital.

There is also a timing element here. Real estate has always been a cyclical business. The best opportunities rarely appear when occupancy is high, financing is easy, and everyone feels optimistic.

The best opportunities emerge when investors are exhausted, worried, and convinced that nothing can improve.

That description fits a large portion of today’s REIT market remarkably well.

The insider buying we are seeing may be signaling that experienced real estate operators believe the industry is closer to recovery than catastrophe.

Alexandria Real Estate Equities (NYSE:ARE)

Alexandria Real Estate Equities yields approximately 5.07% and owns one of the highest-quality life science property portfolios in the world.

The company has faced enormous pressure as biotech funding slowed, laboratory demand moderated, and investors questioned life science real estate valuations. Shares remain dramatically below prior highs even though Alexandria continues to control irreplaceable research campuses in Boston, San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, and other leading innovation centers.

Executive Chairman Joel Marcus recently purchased shares in the open market, continuing a pattern of insider buying that has emerged as the stock traded near multi-year lows.

The market appears focused on short-term concerns surrounding biotechnology funding and leasing activity. Management appears focused on the long-term value of a portfolio that would be extraordinarily difficult and expensive to replicate.

When founders and executives are buying shares after a prolonged decline, it often suggests they believe public market pricing has become disconnected from private market value.

American Assets Trust (NYSE:AAT)

American Assets Trust yields approximately 5.9% and owns a diversified collection of office, retail, residential, and mixed-use properties concentrated in some of the most supply-constrained markets in the United States.

California office exposure has made investors nervous, and that concern has weighed heavily on the stock price.

The reality is that American Assets owns high-quality properties in affluent coastal markets where new development remains challenging. Recent insider purchases suggest management believes investors are overlooking the value of the company’s diversified portfolio and the strength of its underlying real estate assets.

This is exactly the type of situation that often attracts value investors.

The headlines remain negative while the cash flows remain considerably more stable than the market assumes.

Agree Realty (NYSE:ADC)

Agree Realty yields approximately 4.3% and provides a useful reminder that not all commercial real estate is struggling.

The company owns a large portfolio of necessity-based retail properties leased to investment-grade and nationally recognized tenants. Grocery stores, convenience stores, auto-parts retailers, home-improvement chains, and discount merchants continue attracting customers regardless of economic uncertainty.

Insider buying at Agree Realty stands out because management is purchasing shares from a position of strength rather than weakness.

The company continues to grow through acquisitions while maintaining a conservative balance sheet and a high-quality tenant roster.

When insiders purchase shares of a successful REIT with strong operating performance, it often reflects confidence that future growth opportunities are not fully reflected in the current share price.

Millrose Properties (NYSE:MRP)

Millrose Properties yields approximately 11.28% and may be the most intriguing insider-buying story of the group.

Rather than owning traditional income-producing properties, Millrose operates a land-banking platform that provides capital solutions to homebuilders through its Homesite Option Purchase Platform.

Investors remain concerned about mortgage rates, housing affordability, and the possibility of slower home sales activity.

Insiders clearly see things differently.

During the past month, CEO Darren Richman and several directors and executives purchased meaningful amounts of stock in the open market. The buying activity has been broad-based, persistent, and measured in millions of dollars rather than symbolic purchases.

That kind of insider accumulation tends to get my attention.

Management appears to believe the market is underestimating both the long-term demand for housing and the value of Millrose’s unique position within the homebuilding ecosystem.

If they are right, the combination of an 11.28% yield and significant insider buying could eventually prove to be a powerful combination for patient investors.

Commercial real estate is not without risks. Interest rates remain elevated. Refinancing challenges have not disappeared. Certain office markets still face a long recovery process.

However, investing has never been about buying assets after all uncertainty disappears.

It is about buying assets when the price already reflects more bad news than is likely to occur.

The growing wave of insider buying across REITs suggests many of the people closest to these portfolios believe exactly that.

They see improving leasing activity, stabilizing property values, healthy tenant demand, and eventually lower financing costs. More importantly, they are willing to commit their own capital to that view.

That does not guarantee success.

It does suggest that some of the people who know these properties best think the commercial real estate obituary may have been published a little too early.