Expectations for next few years?

Curious as to what people's expectations (whether you are in lending, development, etc) are for the next few years to 5 years out for commercial real estate.   A colleague of mine who is a very seasoned multifamily developer here in LA is somewhat concerned about inflation creeping up in the next couple years, nothing drastic but enough to trigger a rate change.  He is still buying smaller projects here and there where there's a big cushion but doing none of this 'build to core' type of stuff.  

I know people who are active in very niche sectors but generally most people I know are executing existing projects not aggressive in acquisitions now.