For investors interested in multifamily housing, the proposed unwinding of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the government-controlled GSEs that many hold largely responsible for the housing crisis of the past few years, could be great news. In the white paper released two weeks ago to much fevered debate, one overlooked aspect of the end of Fannie and Freddie has been their impact on the multifamily market. While many investors fear that removing the GSEs from the multifamily loan equation could leave them high and dry without funding for development and …

A Texas entrepreneur singlehandedly raised nearly $8 million dollars to fund two commercial investments in New Mexico and Texas, which would have been impressive if the money had gone to building the large-scale retail development projects that he was pitching to would-be investors. Unfortunately, instead of building retail space, he spent most of the investment capital on “expenditures unrelated to the two projects” and now faces up to a total of 200 years in federal prison[1]. The 68-year-old man, Eric Brauss, who was indicted late last week, was indicted on …

While many would think that severe commercial losses might threaten the security and stability of lenders, according to one Federal Reserve official, “losses in the commercial real estate industry do not pose a threat to large banks”[1]. Patrick Parkinson, the Fed’s director of the division of banking supervision and regulation, said in prepared testimony yesterday that “while problems in the commercial real estate market will be an ongoing concern for a number of banking organizations and a negative factor for economic growth and lending, we do not see commercial real …

Jones Lang LaSalle is reaping the rewards for results. According to Reuters, the company’s fourth-quarter earnings “blew past Wall Street’s forecast” with shares rising more than 6 percent this week[1]. The real estate investment firm is predicting continued success in profits as “2011 global commercial real estate investment [rises] 20 to 25 percent to $380 billion,” said the chief executive Colin Dyer on a conference call yesterday. He predicts that in the Americas alone, transaction levels will climb 40 percent this year.
Dyer credits the company’s success in recent quarters to …

In spite of ongoing foreclosure moratoria and other administrative delays that you might expect to keep homeowners – even the distressed ones – in possession of their homes for longer periods of time, U.S. homeownership rates hit a 13-year low at the end of 2010[1]. While some analysts believed that homeownership might actually rise slightly in the wake of the robo-signer fiascos that threatened to stall many lenders’ foreclosures indefinitely, the Census Bureau reported this month that homeownership fell another 0.4 percent in the final quarter of 2010, bringing homeownership …

After a tough year in 2010, a private commercial real estate firm in New York reported today that office rents in Manhattan are on the rise for the first time since the commercial decline began[1]. While New York real estate has been typically resilient – particularly in the rental sector – when it has come to regaining value and encouraging new development, retail and office spaces have continued to suffer in the city. Now, however, it looks like that trend could be reversing before many experts expected it to do …

International investing firm Deloitte released a report yesterday indicating that as far as their experts are concerned, commercial real estate in the United States is clearly “fostering early stages of recovery”[1]. While many analysts were beginning to make similar predictions by the end of 2010, most preferred a “wait and see” approach rather than taking a firm stand on the status of the commercial real estate sector. However, Deloitte’s report indicates that at least for now, the signs are positive.
Deloitte partners abroad are in agreement about the US commercial market …

Right now, everyone is talking about the market for multifamily properties, but health care investments are clearly looking promising to a lot of commercial investment experts in 2011. While many analysts are predicting that the next wave of new construction and sales transactions will center largely around baby boomers as they make the transition from the homes where they have lived and raised their children to smaller homes, condos and even assisted- or senior living facilities, real estate investment trusts (REITs) like Health Care REIT Inc. are listening to the …