Perhaps the most complex and least intuitive part of understanding cap rates is their relationship with interest rates. Often in real estate cap rates may shift without any change to the actual property or surrounding area but only as a result of a change in interest rates. That is because investing in real estate property is largely driven by the amount of debt that can be borrowed to purchase a property and the resulting spread between the interest rate and the cap rate. The larger the spread, the better the potential return. This makes sense if you think of the interest rate as the cost of money, and the cap rate as the value of that same money when invested into the property.
It’s important to note that artificially adjusted interest rates (such as those set by the Federal Reserve) can artificially impact cap rates. In other words, with no underlying changes to the real estate asset or inherent risk to the deal, a property’s cap rate can fluctuate by 0.5% - 1.0% due to the change in interest rate. While that may not seem like a lot, it can have a heavy impact on the property’s value.