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May 8, 2008, Privacy

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May 6, 2008, Building permits fall unexpectedly in March

Canwest News ServicePublished: Tuesday, May 06, 2008

OTTAWA - The value of building permits in Canada fell unexpectedly in March - led by a big decline in Alberta - due to rising costs and weakening demand, Statistics Canada said Tuesday.

"Construction intentions in Canada continued to cool,"_the federal agency said, with both residential and non-residential sectors declining in March. "This was the fourth decrease in five months."

May 6, 2008, Green Leases: A Matter for Debate

By Matt Hudgins

May 5, 2008 3:47 PM

As companies stake their branding and corporate reputations on sustainability, office landlords and their tenants are exploring ways to hold one another accountable for green practices through lease provisions.

While few leases in green buildings directly address carbon footprints or sustainable practices today, leasing experts say green leases will become common in the next few years. That will give tenants leverage to compel landlords to maintain energy efficient practices in their space and prevent future maintenance and repairs from degrading the sustainable features of a property. A green lease could require that a broken toilet, for example, be replaced with the latest low-flow model rather than a conventional fixture.

May 5, 2008, ell Sees Commercial Real Estate Investment Resurging

By Bob Ivry

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Billionaire Sam Zell said institutional investors are beginning to return to the market for mortgage- backed securities that finance commercial real estate deals and new construction.

``I believe the overall market has already started to ease,'' Zell, chairman of Equity Residential, the largest U.S. apartment owner, said in an interview in New York. ``Is it in large volumes? No. Is it the first natural step in the evolution? Yes.''

May 3, 2008, Anthony Dyson

Who is Anthony Dyson, master real estate lease advisor

May 3, 2008, Bank of England warns on real estate defaults

By John Wilkinson

British banks could lose up to $10.8 billion if the commercial real estate sector defaults on loans.

In its latest Financial Stability Report, the Bank of England notes UK commercial real estate prices have fallen 16 per cent since their peak in June last year.

“Derivatives contracts suggest prices are expected to keep falling for the next couple of years,” the report said.

“Taken at face value, these contracts imply a peak to trough fall of about 20 to 25 per cent, although, as with the US ABX index, illiquidity in the market and hedging may cause derivatives indices to overstate potential price falls.”

May 1, 2008, Hammerson Says U.K. Commercial Property Fall Extends

Hammerson Says U.K. Commercial Property Fall Extends (Update1)

By Peter Woodifield

May 1 (Bloomberg) -- Hammerson Plc, the British developer that owns Birmingham's Bullring and London's Brent Cross shopping centers, said U.K. commercial property values fell in the first quarter and the French office market started to weaken.

Hammerson has arranged additional borrowing facilities of 750 million pounds ($1.49 billion) since the start of the year, the London-based company said in a statement today ahead of its annual meeting for investors.

Apr 30, 2008, CoStar's Retail News Roundup

Apr. 27 to May 3, 2008

CoStar Reports on Retail Expansion Plans, New Developments, Acquisitions/Mergers/Sales, Closings or Bankruptcies, Personnel, Sustainability and more…This week in the Retail Roundup, CoStar reports on expansions or new concepts at Dunkin' Donuts, Church's Chicken, Sunflower Farmers Market and Aldi; new retail developments in NY, TX, AL, FL, and NJ; acquisition, merger, loan or sale activity at Regency Centers and RP Realty, Wendy's and Arby's, UDC Global, Sharper Image, Circuit City and Blockbuster, and CBL; closings, cutbacks or bankruptcies at Pep Boys; sustainability at L.A. Dodgers, Crosland, Green Depot and Safeway; personnel announcements at Rouse, Inland, Weingarten and Regency Centers, Lord & Taylor, Mid-America and Opus South; and more.

Apr 29, 2008, Ahead of the Bell: CB Richard Ellis Downgraded by Citi

Citi Investment Research downgrades CB Richard Ellis on sharply higher share priceApril 29, 2008: 06:14 AM EST

NEW YORK (Associated Press) - An analyst downgraded shares of CB Richard Ellis Group Inc. ahead of the commercial real estate firm's first-quarter report on Tuesday, saying its stock price is too expensive, given a sagging commerical real estate market.

Citi Investment Research analyst Patrick M. Burton downgraded the stock to "Hold" from "Buy" on a run-up in price and a challenging commercial real estate market.

Shares have risen about 54 percent since bottoming at a 52-week low of $15.23 in January, Burton said.

Meanwhile, the real estate market has remained challenged b

Apr 28, 2008, Commercial real estate isn't escaping the downturn, two new reports say

11:00 AM CDT on Friday, April 25, 2008

Two new economic reports show that the commercial real estate sector isn't escaping the U.S. economic downturn.

The nationwide architectural billings index – a gauge of new projects in the pipeline – is at its lowest point since the American Institute of Architects began the index in the mid-1990s.

The AIA estimates that its index provides a nine- to 12-month advance estimate of construction spending.

Economist Kermit Baker says in the March report that "the prognosis for commercial construction later this year is not favorable at this point."

Apr 25, 2008, Carney warns rate relief will be slow to reach consumers

HEATHER SCOFFIELD AND KEVIN CARMICHAEL

From Friday's Globe and Mail

April 25, 2008 at 4:31 AM EDT

OTTAWA —

Turmoil in global credit markets is hindering the Bank of Canada's efforts to reduce borrowing costs for individuals and companies.

In its latest assessment of the economy, the central bank warned that even if it continues to lower its benchmark rate, rates lenders charge on mortgages and loans may rise.

Commercial lenders are paying more to get credit themselves in markets that remain reluctant to share money, the Bank of Canada said in its Monetary Policy Report.

Since the credit crisis kicked off last summer, banks have recovered only about three-quarters of their increased borrowing costs by charging higher rates to their customers.

Apr 24, 2008, Colliers Report: Industrial 'Souring'

April 24, 2008By: Tom Dworetzky, News Editor

The U.S. warehouse market weakened considerably during the first three months of 2008, posting only a modest rise in occupied space and a further increase in vacancy vs. a 2007 forth quarter, according to Colliers International's latest report.

Weak demand and rising completions pushed the first quarter vacancy rate up 23 basis points to 8.13 percent. New construction saw 46.1 million square feet completed during the period--down from the 55.5 million square feet from the previous quarter. Year-ago first quarter completions came in at 36.8 million square feet.

Apr 24, 2008, Property Prices Adjusting to Market Conditions

Watch List (April 20-26): Property Prices Adjusting to Market Conditions

A Weekly Column of Market Conditions, Company Contractions and Real Estate Investment OpportunitiesIn this week’s issue:-- Moody's and S&P continue to log property price increases but the pendulum appears to be swinging toward declines;

Apr 23, 2008, Commercial real estate rise hailed - commercial mortgages

Published: 23.4.2008

New figures from the British Bankers Association (BBA) for Commercial Mortgages have been hailed by the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (Rics) as good news.

BBA statistics for lending in March, published today, indicated that this form of lending rose by £14.7 billion in the month.

This compares favourably with the average for the last six months, which stood at £13.1 billion.

Apr 22, 2008, U.S. commercial real estate prices rise in February

Moody's04.21.08, 12:26 PM ET

MUMBAI (Thomson Financial) - Commercial real estate prices in the united states, as measured by Moody's/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI), rose 2.1 percent in February, offsetting most of the losses the CPPI had posted since October.

'We interpret the CPPI's increase in February as a continuation of the process of price discovery, which is likely to continue over a protracted period, possibly a few more quarters,' Moody's (nyse: MCO - news - people ) said.

Apr 21, 2008, How real estate tripped up GE

Most of the conglom’s Q1 EPS miss came from hung-up property deals. The rest of 2008 looks no better.

By Frank ByrtApril 21, 2008

Anyone who thinks the credit crunch will soon be behind us ought to look more closely at General Electric’s first-quarter results. While the headlines immediately following the disappointing numbers focused on GE as a bellwether for the broader economy, the company’s problems more clearly illustrate how much further real estate prices have to fall before the crunch is over.

GE shocked investors April 11 when it missed its own and analysts’ first-quarter operating earnings estimates by 7 cents, at 44 cents a share, and cut its 2008 earnings outlook to between $2.20 and $2.30 a share, from a previous estimate of at least $2.42.

Apr 18, 2008, Discounted commercial loans provide buying opportunity

by Carol Marshall | Oakland Business ReviewThursday April 17, 2008, 9:00 AM

Some commercial mortgage borrowers see opportunity in the wake of the subprime mortgage crisis, which could bring them higher returns on their real estate. They're buying back - at a discount - their mortgages from the original lenders, either financing the new loans themselves or refinancing with lenders still bullish on the Michigan economy.

"What's happening right now is that mortgage holders are working to reduce exposure. They're in the process of selling off (commercial real estate) notes. It's in many cases being done at a discount and in some cases at par," said Robert Leonard, managing director of iCap Realty Advisors.

Apr 18, 2008, Calgary's office vacancy rate spikes

Mario Toneguzzi, Calgary HeraldPublished: Wednesday, April 16, 2008

CALGARY - Calgary recorded the sharpest rise in Canada in overall office vacancy rate in the first quarter of this year compared with a year ago providing some much needed relief in the "overheated" market, says a national report by a commercial real estate firm.

Cushman & Wakefield LePage said today that the city's office vacancy rate rose to 4.5 per cent in the first quarter of 2008 from 1.4 per cent in the first quarter of 2007.

Apr 18, 2008, Does CMBX Reflect Industry Fundamentals?

By Poonkulali Thangavelu

Apr 16, 2008 3:14 PM

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Is there smoke without fire in the commercial-mortgage backed securities market, or is a doomsday forecast on the future performance of CMBS bonds justified? Industry participants allege that the activities of hedge fund speculators are causing spreads to widen to new highs as these speculators bet that industry fundamentals will deteriorate. However, recent spread tightening in the CMBX may serve to ease some industry concerns about the impact of the index on the CMBS sector.

The CMBX, maintained by London-based Markit Group, was initially introduced in 2006 to help CMBS market participants hedge their exposure to commercial mortgages. The CMBX is a series of credit default swap indices referencing U.S. CMBS that provide investors with exposure to CMBS of a particular vintage. Each CMBX index references a basket of 25 of the most recently issued CMBS deals rated by one of the major rating agencies.

Apr 17, 2008, Fitch: Commercial Real Estate Loans to Weaken as Economy Slows

Staff Report

Apr 16, 2008 3:28 PM

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Since the fourth quarter of 2007 when the commercial mortgage-backed securities market effectively seized up, there has been concern that lax underwriting in residential lending would bleed over into commercial real estate loans. Furthermore, if the latter underwriting was indeed less than stellar, how much exposure would U.S. banks and brokers face from commercial real estate loans?

According to a recent report by Fitch Ratings, “Commercial real estate and CMBS exposures will likely exacerbate credit problems at U.S. banks, many of whom are already facing significant risk from troubled residential real estate exposures.”

Apr 14, 2008, Financial “terrorism” hits property market

Shock waves could be felt for up to 3 years, experts say

By Arleen Jacobius

Posted: April 14, 2008, 6:01 AM EST

Real estate is in its worst slump since the 1980s, but insiders say the market could hit bottom several times over the next 12 to 36 months.

The culprit is the credit crunch, which is drying up financing and causing investors to flee. The problem: Just when things start to look better, another financial bomb explodes on Wall Street. The shock waves might keep real estate managers and investors reeling for years to come, experts say.

“It's like terrorism,” said Jack Foster, managing director and head of Franklin Templeton Real Estate Advisors, a real estate fund of funds firm in New York.

Apr 12, 2008, Record New York Tower Acquisition Closes

By Matt Hudgins National Real Estate Investor

Apr 10, 2008 2:52 PM

Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp. and The Carlyle Group have completed their purchase of 650 Madison Avenue, a trophy asset in New York’s Plaza District, for $680 million. Trading for more than $1,130 per sq. ft., the 27-story office and retail tower garnered the highest price paid for a single asset so far this year.

“This deal further cements our position as the largest retail landlord on Madison Avenue and we are thrilled to add it to our bi-coastal portfolio of high-end assets,” says Michael Alpert, president of Ashkenazy Acquisition Corp., which purchased the property from Hiro Real Estate Co. in a joint venture with Carlyle.

The 600,000 sq. ft. structure commands one of Midtown Manhattan’s premier locations, extending the length of the block from 59th Street to 60th Street on Madison Avenue. The 90,000 sq. ft. of retail at the building’s base currently serves as the New York City flagship stores of Crate and Barrel and Tod’s. Tenants in the office tower, which offers views of Central Park, include Polo Ralph Lauren’s corporate headquarters, Columbia Presbyterian and several investment firms.

Ackman Ziff worked with the partners to secure financing from a syndicate of lenders that includes Natixis and Shorenstein. “We are pleased that during a period of economic uncertainty, where deals have not always come together easily, we were able to obtain efficient financing with significant lender interest,” Alpert says.

With the exception of a few boutique properties that fetched higher prices per square foot, 650 Madison Avenue garnered the highest price paid for a major office building this year, according to Dan Fasulo, managing director of research for Real Capital Analytics, a New York-based commercial real estate research firm.

The transaction marked the highest price paid for a single asset in 2008, eclipsed only by portfolio acquisitions. Last month, Gramercy Capital Corp. purchased American Financial Realty Trust for $3.3 billion; and Vornado Realty Trust announced it is selling its interest in refrigerated warehouse owner Americold Realty Trust to The Yucaipa Cos. The latter deal will net Vornado about $220 million in proceeds after debt and other obligations, but the portfolio is valued at $1.52 billion.

“It’s great to know that deals of this size and magnitude can still close,” Fasulo says. “It’s a sign of confidence for the entire real estate industry.”

While the final price paid for 650 Madison Avenue is less than the asset could have garnered last summer, Fasulo says, the sellers got a relatively attractive price for the current environment. “It’s a fantastic asset and you can’t get many better locations than that in Manhattan,” he says. “Both the seller and the buyer are going to be happy on that deal.”

Apr 11, 2008, CBRE Executives: Soft Landing May Follow Bumpy Flight

April 10, 2008By: Paul Rosta, Senior Associate Editor

New York City--and also national--real estate markets will face challenges into next year, but strong fundamentals will help ease the blow, according to two top CB Richard Ellis Inc. executives.

“We really don’t see any wholesale drop in the leasing market,” said John Powers, chairman of CB Richard Ellis’ New York tri-state region. During a briefing Wednesday afternoon at the firm’s Midtown Manhattan office, Powers predicted that the Manhattan office market would avoid the high availability levels that followed the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. First-quarter availability in Midtown Manhattan, New York City’s largest submarket, stood at 8.2 percent. By contrast, availability in 2003 reached 13.3 percent.

Apr 11, 2008, Community Shopping Center Vacancy at 12-Year High

Community Shopping Center Vacancy at

By Matt Hudgins

Apr 10, 2008 2:54 PM

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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%. Adding to the bad news, retail absorption of space in the quarter went negative for the first time since the company began tracking the sector in 1980.

“From the perspective of a mall owner, the most significant challenge that could emerge this year is for one of your anchors to go dark,” says Sam Chandan, chief economist at Reis. “That makes it extremely difficult to lease up your inline space.”

Apr 10, 2008, Office Tenants Cautious

Office Tenants Cautious

RexCorp Sees Soft Demand Across MarketsOffice tenants are proceeding cautiously under current economic conditions and are deferring leasing decisions until there is more clarity and less volatility in the marketplace, according to Scott Rechler chairman and CEO of Reckson Australia Management Ltd., the Australian-based responsible entity for RexCorp Realty, which owns about 11 million square feet of office space in the suburban New York City markets.

Apr 9, 2008, Report: Manhattan Office Rents Rise As Leasing Slows

Staff ReportThe bigger they come, the harder they fall is an expression that clearly does not apply to New York, according to Cushman & Wakefield’s first-quarter report on the commercial real estate market in Manhattan. Despite a slowdown in leasing and a rise in vacancy, overall asking rents were up to $67.13 per sq. ft. from $53.43 at the end of the first quarter last year.

"Commercial real estate is facing an uncertain economy from a position of fundamental strength," said Bruce Mosler, Cushman & Wakefield's president and CEO. "Until this quarter, years of uninterrupted job growth fueled office leasing and investment demand and limited new construction kept supply in check in most major U.S. markets. On top of the fundamentals, New York, in particular, has a position of strength stemming from its reputation as the global financial and business capital."

Apr 8, 2008, Solar Initiative Shines on California’s Commercial Rooftops

By Matt Hudgins

Apr 3, 2008 1:52 PM

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Distribution center giant ProLogis has leased the roof of a 607,000 sq. ft. distribution center to power provider Southern California Edison to begin the world’s largest solar cell installation program. All told, the public utility wants to cover 125 commercial buildings — 65 million sq. ft. of rooftops — with photovoltaic panels in the next five years.

Apr 7, 2008, Commercial Real Estate: The Next Risk?

By DAN DORFMANApril 7, 2008

As if investors didn't have enough to worry about, a new danger is brewing that the country's most bearish investment newsletter says could roil the financial markets. In brief, it sees an accelerated national downturn in commercial real estate.

Apr 3, 2008, Real estate equities called a Steal

Wall Street pundit says he has never seen a bigger bargain than Canadian REITsJacqueline Thorpe, Canwest News ServicePublished: Thursday, April 03, 2008

TORONTO -- Either the Canadian commercial real estate market is about to follow the U.S. residential market into the abyss or Canadian real estate equities are a screaming buy.

Apr 3, 2008, Hotels Most Vulnerable to Recession Scenario

Is the U.S. economy in recession? That question is a matter of debate based on the responses of two prominent real estate experts during a recent Webinar on the outlook for the economy and real estate. The event sponsored by the Urban Land Institute attracted over a thousand participants.

Arthur Margon, a principal with Rosen Consulting in New York, believes the question is not whether the U.S. economy is currently in a recession, but whether it will be a shallow and brief one.

The good news, according to Margon, is that the commercial real estate property fundamentals remain healthy for the most part. The industry does not excess supply, a problem that exacerbated the recession of the early 1990s.

Apr 2, 2008, Allied Properties Real Estate Investment Trust Announces Strategic Portfolio Acquisition in Toronto's Downtown West

TORONTO, ONTARIO--(Marketwire - April 1, 2008) - Allied Properties REIT (TSX:AP.UN) announced today that it has entered into an agreement to purchase the following portfolio of properties in Toronto for $30.75 million:

Apr 2, 2008, Blackstone Raises Record $10.9 Billion Property Fund

By Hui-yong Yu and Jason Kelly

April 1 (Bloomberg) -- Blackstone Group LP, manager of the world's biggest leveraged buyout fund, raised a record $10.9 billion to invest in property as the U.S. housing slump pushes global real-estate prices lower.

The fund, the New York-based firm's ninth property pool, brings to $25.7 billion the capital it has gathered since 1992 to buy real estate, Blackstone said in a statement today. The company is starting a separate fund of more than $1 billion for Western Europe.

Apr 2, 2008, A disciple of green spreads the word

Software maker Adobe Systems finds bringing properties up to environmental standards does indeed compute

JAY SOMERSET

Special to The Globe and Mail

April 1, 2008

Randall Knox admits he was a reluctant convert to the green-building movement - until a light bulb went off, literally and figuratively.

As the man in charge of Adobe Systems Inc.'s real estate, facilities and security, Mr. Knox says he wasn't sure what to make of burgeoning efforts in the late nineties to make buildings more energy efficient and healthier for the environment.

"Back then, I was arguing with myself, not believing I could effectively reduce energy and reduce operating costs," he says. "I wasn't what you'd call a believer in green technology, at least from a business perspective."

Apr 2, 2008, Residential Condo Glut to Worsen

Developers and owners of residential condominiums for sale in overbuilt markets would be wise to cut their losses and sell before a wave of construction adds another 100,000 units to the national inventory of this year, experts say.

“People don’t realize that prices are going to be trailing the market down,” says Gene A. Berman, managing director of broker Marcus & Millichap’s Florida offices. “Smart lenders and smart owners are cleaning up the books [to sell] now because they know that in the next six months to a year, it’s not going to get better for them.”

Nationwide, the supply of condos for sale totaled 604,000 units in February, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That number is down 1.8% from the inventory a year ago and well below the peak inventory of 731,000 units measured last July. Due to a slower pace of sales this year, however, February’s inventory equates to a 13-month supply, an all-time high.

Mar 31, 2008, Corus Stands at a Precipice In the Condominium Bust

By Jonathan KarpFrom The Wall Street Journal Online

In increasingly blunt language, federal regulators are stepping up warnings to banks on their exposure to commercial-real-estate construction and development loans.

That puts Corus Bankshares Inc., a Chicago lender that has bet almost exclusively on condominiums, squarely in regulators' cross hairs. Just as mortgage lender Countrywide Financial Corp. became the poster child of the housing bust, Corus Bankshares might come to symbolize the sequel: the condo crash.

Mar 29, 2008, CoStar Study Finds LEED, Energy Star Bldgs. Outperform Peers

Demand in Marketplace for Sustainability Creates Higher Occupancy Rates, Stronger Rents and Sale Prices in 'Green' Buildings

A new study by CoStar Group has found that sustainable "green" buildings outperform their peer non-green assets in key areas such as occupancy, sale price and rental rates, sometimes by wide margins.

The results indicate a broader demand by property investors and tenants for buildings that have earned either LEED® certification or the Energy Star® label and strengthen the "business case" for green buildings, which proponents have increasingly cast as financially sound investments.

Mar 28, 2008, Residential Condo Glut to Worsen

Developers and owners of residential condominiums for sale in overbuilt markets would be wise to cut their losses and sell before a wave of construction adds another 100,000 units to the national inventory of this year, experts say.

“People don’t realize that prices are going to be trailing the market down,” says Gene A. Berman, managing director of broker Marcus & Millichap’s Florida offices. “Smart lenders and smart owners are cleaning up the books [to sell] now because they know that in the next six months to a year, it’s not going to get better for them.”

Nationwide, the supply of condos for sale totaled 604,000 units in February, according to the National Association of Realtors (NAR). That number is down 1.8% from the inventory a year ago and well below the peak inventory of 731,000 units measured last July. Due to a slower pace of sales this year, however, February’s inventory equates to a 13-month supply, an all-time high.

Mar 28, 2008, Commercial Real Estate Not Immune from Recession

By Poonkulali Thangavelu

Mar 27, 2008 4:24 PM

The U.S. economy is in a recession and commercial real estate will not be immune, according to speakers at the Pension Real Estate Association’s spring conference in Boston. At the convention’s opening session, Nariman Behravesh, chief economist and executive vice president for economic research firm Global Insight, declared that “we are in a recession” considering that “all data are flashing red.”

Mar 27, 2008, Investors Blame CMBX Index For Their Misfortunes

By Lingling Wei, Jennifer S. Forsyth and Kris HudsonFrom The Wall Street Journal Online

Investors and issuers of commercial mortgage-backed securities have been sputtering with rage lately over the CMBX -- a two-year-old credit-market index that has been greatly influencing CMBS prices. Now some are trying to do something about it.

Mar 26, 2008, In Real Estate, Think Global

In Real Estate,Think Global

By Scott PattersonFrom The Wall Street Journal Online

The mantra that all real estate is local looks more suspect than ever, now that a national home-price bubble has burst. In today's interconnected marketplace, real-estate trends might follow a global pattern, with overseas housing markets following the lead set by the U.S.

In Europe, slack lending policies and low interest rates helped drive up property values just as they had in the U.S. In 2006, home prices rose at a double-digit pace in Ireland, Spain, France and Norway, according to Moody's Economy.com. They shot up in the United Kingdom, too, after briefly flattening out in 2005.

Mar 26, 2008, Index Points to Slowdown in Construction

After months and years of positive growth, a key indicator of commercial instruction activity has dropped nine points. According to recent statistics from a monthly survey produced by the American Institute of Architects Economics & Market Research Group, commercial real estate construction activity will slow over the next nine months.

For February 2008, the AIA Architecture Billings Index was down nine points to 41.8, its lowest reading since October 2001. "This is a clear indication that there could be tougher times ahead for design firms and a noticeable slowdown in commercial construction projects coming online in the foreseeable future," says Kermit Baker, chief economist for the American Institute of Architects. Any reading above 50 is seen as an indication that activity is increasing.

Mar 25, 2008, What Fire Sale?

While the nation’s credit markets and economy might appear to be in a freefall, sellers of office properties continue to toe the line on pricing, stubbornly refusing to give up record-high valuations gained over the past three years.

But the question begs, “How long before the pressure builds and sellers slash prices?” asks Robert White, president of New York-based research firm Real Capital Analytics.

Mar 25, 2008, Report: Panic Overstates Commercial Real Estate Risk

A newly released report by CBRE Torto Wheaton Research states that future commercial mortgage defaults and losses could be overestimated threefold. The culprit? Not surprisingly, overreactions in the credit markets are to blame, according to the report.

“While prices have been slow to change in the commercial real estate equity market, the commercial real estate debt markets have been driven by increasing spreads, and decreased availability of mortgage capital,” states the report. In recent weeks, prices of the CMBX — a set of derivatives that provide insurance against default — and prices in the commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) market are “out of line with what any likely future income stream of the underlying mortgages would suggest.”

Mar 24, 2008, For Architects, a Downturn s in the Designs

By Kris HudsonFrom The Wall Street Journal Online

A key barometer of construction-industry activity is signaling that the abrupt downturn in commercial construction could run deeper, and last longer, than previously expected.

The American Institute of Architects said its Architecture Billings Index for last month declined to 41.8, its lowest monthly reading since the aftermath of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks. As recently as July, the index was near 60. The index's 8.9-point slide in February follows a 4.3-point drop a month earlier, amounting to a 24% swoon over those two months. (Any reading above 50 indicates an increase in billings; a reading below 50 means billings for the industry declined.)

Mar 23, 2008, Financial Storm Pounding Real Estate Sentiment

Industry Fears Financial Instability, Lack of Financing Will Drive Values Way Down

Wall Street's wild swings and the turmoil in the credit markets are confounding the commercial real estate industry.

Three fourths of the way through last year, there was no telling from quarter to quarter what the commercial real estate markets looked like. That shifted in the fourth quarter to uncertainty from month to month. Early this year, it shifted to week to week and this month, it became day to day. Who knows what tomorrow brings.

Mar 22, 2008, Mixed news for commerical real estate

Unfortunately, what happened was all of the subprime problems and the mortgages and the lending, it really put a red flag throughout the whole entire financial industry and it made lending more difficult not only on the residential side, but also in the commercial side.

Mar 21, 2008, Fed Fix Works For Now

By David Reilly and Liz RappaportFrom The Wall Street Journal Online

The Federal Reserve's latest dose of medicine to calm the credit crunch appears to be working in at least the all-important mortgage-bond market where yields have dropped in recent days.

"Every little bit of support in the mortgage market helps every other single market out there," said Jim Vogel, head of agency debt research at securities firm FTN Financial. "The Fed, by a combination of actions, is giving people more assurance that things are better for now."

Mar 20, 2008, Commercial Property Financing Could Tighten After Bear's Demise

NEW YORK -(Dow Jones)- The pool of financing options for commercial real estate borrowers may get shallower following the emergency bailout of Bear Stearns Cos. (BSC).

The downfall of the 85-year-old investment bank could increase investors' fears about commercial mortgage-backed securities, or CMBS, a key financing vehicle for commercial real estate. In addition, Bear's demise removes a sizable player in the industry. Bear Stearns was a major underwriter of CMBS, and held some $16 billion of commercial real estate bonds on its books.

Mar 20, 2008, Toronto Commercial Real Estate. Search 1000s of commercial real estate listings

Toronto Commercial Real Estate Tenant Strategies. So Certain of Success; They ought to require a LICENCE to use! Get Listings From ALL the Real Estate Companies

Mar 20, 2008, Report: Panic Overstates Commercial Real Estate Risk

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.