As report today in the Financial Times,  shockingly a large percentage of US banks say that lending standards for commercial real estate loans are the tightest they have been since 2005. Unfortunately, this unsettling fact, highlights a continued lack of appetite for real estate investment. The numbers are evidence that, despite some improvement since the recession ended in […]

Here is a story that, unfortunately, keeps repeating itself time and time again. It’s also a story that speaks volumes about where the commercial real estate market truly is today and the challenges that developers and bankers face. 
The only three  questions that remain are: (1) How low will prices go down?; (2)When will the tide turn?; and (3) […]

Finally, some good news. Commercial real estate markets across the U.S. continued on their trend of improvement in the second quarter 2010, according to Moody’s. The news is more than welcome, in that some upward pricing movement is always a good sign for the market, if not for the industries psyche. But the long-standing problems are […]

As part of its Commercial Real Estate Project, PIMCO has conducted an extensive overview of opportunities in the U.S. CRE market.
PIMCO has a notably less optimistic outlook. More specifically, as securities backed by existing assets see their cash flows dry out, as all valuable assets get extinguished, the repricing in assorted CRE fixed income securities, […]

US commercial real estate prices as measured by Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices (CPPI) declined 0.5% in March, the second month of falling values after a slight rebound in prices earlier in the year.“Commercial property prices have been hovering in a range 40% to 44% below peak levels for the past eight months,” said Moody’s […]

Are we seeing a trend with respect to an uptick in commercial real estate values? Perhaps …
According to Green Street Advisors’ Commercial Property Price Index (GSA CPPI), commercial property values rose 5% in April 2010.

The April 2010 gain continued an upswing that began in the spring of 2009.

The index has risen 20 percent since last year;

But remains […]

On February 10, 2010 the Congressional Oversight Panel issued a most amazing and eye-opening report entitled: Commercial Real Estate Losses and the Risk to Financial Stability.
Here a quick executive summary — directly from the source – that should be read very carefully. Keep in mind, this is what the government’s oversight panel is concluding; not […]

While I am on the topic of bank lending, I would like to add a few words about commercial real estate (CRE).
Demand for commercial property has dropped as the economy has weakened, leading to significant declines in property values, increased vacancy rates, and falling rents.
These poor fundamentals have caused a sharp deterioration in the credit […]

Today was Fed Meeting Day. In a piece entitled Commercial Real Estate Continues to Worry the Fed …. we see that apparently there is more evidence that commercial real estate continues to worry the Fed: The minutes from the September meeting of Federal Reserve’s Open Market Committee.
The underlying theme of the Fed’s view of the real-estate market comes […]

This just in from the Wall Street Journal. Here’s the full story outlining the upcomming horrors that the commercial real estate market may very well play on our economy.
 Federal Reserve and Treasury officials are scrambling to prevent the commercial-real-estate sector from delivering a roundhouse punch to the U.S. economy just as it struggles to get […]