aaron NORWOOD

Dynamic Duo? Apartments, Industrial Gain Favored Status

2009-06-16T06:20:00.001-07:00

“Bleak” may be one of the most common descriptors for the national commercial real estate market outlook in 2009. But according to new research, apartment and industrial properties are expected to rebound sooner than other sectors.[...more...]

Economic growth will rebound in the second half of 2009

2009-05-27T06:33:00.001-07:00

...Housing: New and existing home sales are close to their lows, with 72% of NABE panelists expecting sales to hit bottom by the middle of 2009. More than 60% of those surveyed said housing starts would also bottom out at the same time.

The panelists were split on the issue of when home prices will hit their lows: 30% said it would happen by the third quarter of 2009; 30% said the fourth quarter; and 40% said declines will continue into 2010 or later. The median prediction is that home prices will rise 1% in 2010, the report said. [...more...]

Has the Office Vacancy Rate Become Irrelevant?

2009-04-15T19:24:00.001-07:00

The U.S. office vacancy rate has not broken through the 13% barrier for 14 years since the end of the great oversupply build-up of the late 1980s and early 1990s. Even now after 15 months of the most severe recession since the 1930s, the U.S. office vacancy rate still hovers manageably below 12.5%.

In its First Quarter 2009 Office Review delivered this week, CoStar Group asked the question: "What's wrong with this picture?"[...more...]

WACHOVIA TOPS LIST OF COMMERCIAL/MULTIFAMILY LOAN SERVICERS

2009-02-13T13:18:00.001-08:00

Looking to get into a multifamily property this year? Wachovia serviced the most loans last year, might be a good place to start. Or, you could get into one of our Seller-Financed properties...

Wachovia Securities was the nation’s largest commercial real estate loan servicer in 2008 with $412.9 billion in loans serviced, a new report shows. Wachovia Securities serviced 91,591 loans with an average value of $4.5 million, according to the annual ranking of commercial and multifamily loan servicers by the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA).[...more...]

BAILOUT FATIGUE?: DEVELOPERS SEEK FEDERAL ASSISTANCE

2008-12-23T14:58:00.000-08:00

Will the bleeding stop? Now, the developers go in...

Fearing an onslaught of troubled commercial real estate loans in 2009 in the absence of normalized credit markets, leaders from trade associations across the industry have banded together to request federal assistance. But is there enough political will at the U.S. Treasury to rescue once high-flying lenders and developers on the heels of bailouts of the banking and auto industries? [...more...]

STORE CLOSINGS COULD DOUBLE IN 2009

2008-11-07T09:05:00.001-08:00

Circuit City’s announcement Monday that it was closing 155 stores, or 21 percent of its 721 U.S. locations, and planning to start lease renegotiations for others, will be echoed by numerous retailers throughout 2009, with the total number of stores shuttered in the United States expected to double the figure predicted for this year.

By the end of 2008, store closing announcements will total 6,100, according to an October forecast from ICSC. [...more...]

DESPITE RESCUE BAILOUT, INSTITUTIONS WAIT

2008-10-13T13:25:00.001-07:00

The spread between asking prices and buyers idea of "market value" may still have a ways to go. For those who are waiting to sell, lowering prices and carrybacks may be ways to create buying pressure.

Despite Rescue Bailout, Institutions Wait on the Sidelines

For more than a year, transaction volume, particularly in the office sector, has been stuck in a bid/ask logjam. Closed sales of downtown and suburban office properties year-to-date through August fell by 70% from a year ago, according to New York-based research firm Real Capital Analytics.[...more...]

REGISTER TO VOTE!

2008-09-29T21:35:00.003-07:00

BE HEARD!

Office Subleases Portend Softening Fundamentals

2008-09-25T14:10:00.001-07:00

It's a tenants market...

Landlords across the nation are competing for tenants not only with other property owners, but also with tenants that are offering space on the cheap for sublease. While the amount of subleases available today isn’t alarming, researchers say it is a growing trend that signals softening fundamentals today and declining rental rates ahead. [...more...]

REAL ESTATE RECOVERY EXPECTED IN 2011

2008-09-03T12:03:00.001-07:00

The nation is in for more than a year of stagnant job creation and tepid economic growth that will set the stage for marked improvement in 2011, according to two of academia’s respected authorities on the economy and commercial real estate. [...more...]

INDUSTRIAL MARKET IS SOFT BUT NOT SOUR

2008-08-15T09:39:00.001-07:00

Weakened demand for warehouse and distribution space contributed to a rise in the nation’s industrial vacancy rate in the second quarter, but rents are still rising in some major metros and port cities, researchers say. [...more...]

Office Fundamentals Weaken in Second Quarter

2008-07-22T21:35:00.001-07:00

The U.S. office vacancy rate climbed in the second quarter amid decreasing demand and new deliveries of space, according to research by Colliers International. Downtown rents showed modest increases but suburban office properties have begun to feel the impact of the slowing economy as those rents edged downward. [...more...]

Commercial Real Estate Easing in Economic Slowdown

2008-07-16T07:34:00.001-07:00

NEWS FROM REALTOR's COMMERCIAL ALLIANCE shows rising vacancies and slowing activity, but the commercial market is still "active", despite “tight credit availability".

NAR Chief Economist Lawrence Yun said economic weakness is impacting commercial real estate. “Although the supply-demand fundamentals are broadly favorable in most commercial real estate markets, vacancy rates are rising modestly and rent gains are slowing,” he said. “Slow economic growth is lowering demand for commercial space, mostly in the office and industrial sectors. Despite the slowdown, the commercial real estate market is in much better shape compared to conditions during the 2001 recession.” [...more...]

STARBUCKS TO CUT & CLOSE STORES

2008-07-02T09:16:00.001-07:00

Starbucks trimming to prepare for a solid 2009. A bit more than previously expected, right?

In January, Starbucks brought back founder and chief executive Howard Schultz to turn around the company. Soon after, Schultz targeted 100 stores for closure -- a number that grew by 500 when firm plans were announced on Tuesday.

He has also slashed plans for store openings and shifted the company's most ambitious expansion efforts to international markets. [...more...]

COMMERCIAL PROPERTY RETAIL MARKETS UPDATE

2008-05-29T06:29:00.001-07:00

Reporting from the first quarter of 2008 shows definite slowing nationally for the number of transactions; however, pricing remains stable. Financing is more difficult to attain, but the asset value remains constant, and CAP rates probably will rise through 2008.

As the industry makes its way through the second quarter of 2008, the outlook for the U.S. retail property market remains muddled, according to the first quarter report from Reis, Inc., a New York City-based provider of commercial real estate information. Transaction volume during the first quarter continued its downward slide, but pricing for the assets that did trade hands remained relatively stable.[...more...]

NAR Sees Slim Ray of Light for Commercial Sectors

2008-05-22T09:16:00.001-07:00

NAR's predictions for future transaction volume and vacancy rates in the commercial RE markets show slowing, but overall the market still shows strong. Read below...

The U.S. economy will likely avoid a recession and pick up in the second half of this year, according to the National Association of Realtors, which expects the commercial property market to turn in a mixed performance.

“Commercial fundamentals are good, but investment has been hurt by the credit crunch. Investment in the commercial sectors decelerated in the first quarter after setting a record in 2007,” says Lawrence Yun, chief economist at NAR. [...more...]

Is Real Estate Sentenced to Hard LIBOR?

2008-04-24T15:55:00.001-07:00

“If you take a look at the spreads over a period of time, they’re certainly wider than they traditionally have been,” says Jamie Woodwell, senior director of commercial and multifamily research, Mortgage Bankers Association.

For now, LIBOR remains low enough that floating rate debt is still low and manageable for most commercial real estate borrowers, says Capmark’s Cannon. At 2.91%, today’s three-month LIBOR rate is roughly half the 5.06% it was six months ago. “I don’t think anybody is pushing any panic buttons yet,” he says, “but they’re watching it.” [...more...]

Commercial Real Estate Markets Hold Steady

2008-04-23T06:16:00.001-07:00

"A new report by Moody’s Investors Service indicates that six of the seven commercial property types held their ground at the end of the first quarter. Limited service hotels bucked the trend, with scores declining to 64 on Moody’s scoring system, from 77 in the fourth quarter of 2007." [...more...]

BID/ASK GAP BRINGS INVESTMENT SALES TO A HALT

2008-04-16T12:12:00.001-07:00

Time to make an offer...

Real estate brokers had hoped the steep decline in investment sales of retail properties in the last quarter of 2007 was a temporary setback. Now it's well into the second quarter of 2008 and little has changed. [...more...]

COMMUNITY SHOPPING CENTER VACANCY AT 12-YEAR HIGH

2008-04-10T16:40:00.001-07:00

The national vacancy rate for neighborhood and community shopping centers increased by 20 basis points in the first quarter to 7.7% — the highest level since 1996, according to real estate research firm Reis. Mall vacancy increased 10 basis points in the first quarter to 5.9%. [...more...]

JAKE TYLER

2008-04-02T12:05:00.000-07:00

Bryn, 7, and Jake Tyler, brand new.

NAR: EXISTING HOME SALES RISE IN FEBRUARY

2008-03-24T13:12:00.001-07:00

A small turn upward on the residential front in the month of February.

Existing-home sales – including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops – rose 2.9 percent to a seasonally adjusted annual rate (1) of 5.03 million units in February from a pace of 4.89 million in January, but remain 23.8 percent below the 6.60 million-unit level in February 2007. The sales pace has been in a fairly narrow range since last September. [...more...]

REPORT: PANIC OVERSTATED

2008-03-19T15:00:00.001-07:00

...Despite an expected incremental rise in vacancies across all major property types over the next few years, vacancies are still expected to remain lower than 2002/2003 peak levels, and the 2008/2009 period is projected to see rents to continue moving upward into positive territory... [...more...]

Q&A: Philip McAndrews of TIAA-CREF

2008-03-13T07:55:00.001-07:00

This is a very interesting perspective from a big player in Commercial Real Estate investments. Enjoy!

New York-based TIAA-CREF is considered one of the largest institutional real estate investors in the world. The self-described financial services organization has more than $435 billion in total assets under management and about $25 billion in real estate assets.

That size alone makes TIAA-CREF’s perspective important in today’s uncertain economic environment. We caught up with Philip McAndrews, the company’s managing director and head of real estate portfolio management, to pick his brain about the state of the markets and how the company is sourcing deals and building its investment portfolio. [...more...]

1,600 ACRE BUSINESS PARK PLANNED

2008-03-04T18:37:00.001-08:00

The West Valley is continuing mixed use growth...

SunCor displayed its first building at an event on Monday. The 440,000-square-foot, speculative cross-dock distribution building is the first of about 60 buildings planned for the project. SunCor plans to ultimately build-out with office, retail and industrial space. [...more...]