Blackstone’s contrarian bets on real estate

Distressed real estate across the pond holds promise, Joan Solotar of Blackstone said Thursday.

"We are still cautious on economies in Europe, but if you look at asset pricing, huge discounts to replacement value," she said. "Banks are starting to sell. So, if you think about corporate M&A as being incredibly slow, that's not the case in real estate."

On CNBC's "Fast Money," Solotar, who is senior managing director of external relations and strategy, said her strategy was: "Buy it, fix it, sell it."

One of the areas she was focusing on was Spain.

"Prices are much, much lower, and if you can take a four- or five-year view, improve the assets – we're very much buy it, fix it, sell it mode – Spain's interesting."

Asked what potential risks her thesis could face, Solotar turned to pricing.

(Read more: Retail back-to-school winners, losers)

"There's always something that could go wrong, but at the pricing that we're at now, the basis is so low," she said. "And real estate is the kind of asset that if you don't have it over-leveraged situation, you can hold."

The number of buyers vs. available properties was an important factor, she added.

(Read more: Defense stocks are overextended: Carter Worth)

"It's all about supply and demand," Solotar said. "At the moment you haven't had any building over a protracted period of time, so supply is much less than it is. There aren't a lot of buyers with capital to move.

"There are assets that today are of real value that maybe 12 months ago, you know, wouldn't have felt as good."

— By CNBC's Bruno J. Navarro. Follow him on Twitter: @Bruno_J_Navarro.

— CNBC's Stephanie Landsman contributed reporting to this article. Follow her on Twitter: @StephLandsman.

Trader disclosure: On Aug. 8, 2013, the following stocks and commodities mentioned or intended to be mentioned on CNBC's "Fast Money" were owned by the "Fast Money" traders: Guy Adami is long C; Guy Adami is long GS; Guy Adami is long INTC; Guy Adami is long MSFT; Guy Adami is long AGU; Guy Adami is long NUE; Guy Adami is long BTU; Guy Adami's wife, Linda Snow, works at Merck; Brian Kelly is long Yen; Brian Kelly is long Euro; Brian Kelly is long British Pound; Brian Kelly is short US Dollar; Dan Nathan is long ZNGA; Dan Nathan is long FB Aug/Oct 38 call spread ; Dan Nathan is long JCP Aug 14 regular call spread ; Dan Nathan is short BBRY Jan 10/12 put spread; Karen Finerman is long AAPL; Karen Finerman is long BAC; Karen Finerman is long C; Karen Finerman is long JPM; Karen Finerman is long TGT; Karen Finerman is long M; Karen Finerman is long JCP; Karen Finerman is long FNP; Karen Finerman is long LYV; Karen Finerman is long IBM; Dan Telsey is long GPS; Dan Telsey is long M; Dan Telsey is long URBN; Dan Telsey is long TJX,