Most Clicked Real Estate Investment SmartBrief Stories
1. Regulators give banks commercial mortgage modification guidelines
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 02, 2009
The major bank regulators have joined together to give banks new rules aimed at encouraging lenders to consider restructuring problem commercial mortgages instead of just foreclosing on them. The rules provide guidance to bank examiners and the banks themselves on how to work with commercial property owners who are "experiencing diminished operating cash flows, depreciated collateral values, or prolonged delays in selling or renting commercial properties." Lenders and borrowers often are best served by restructuring the debt, the guidelines said. Wall Street Journal, The (10/31)
2. "Huge crash" for commercial real estate foreseen by Wilbur Ross
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 02, 2009
Billionaire investor Wilbur L. Ross Jr. said he would use "extreme caution" before investing in commercial property under today's market conditions. "All of the components of real estate value are going in the wrong direction simultaneously," he told Bloomberg Radio. Ross said the U.S. is at the beginning of a "huge crash in commercial real estate." Separately, speaking at Central European University in Budapest, billionaire George Soros said leveraged buyouts and commercial real estate are probably in for a "bloodletting." Bloomberg (10/30)
3. Former NFL star now a real estate player in Chicago
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 02, 2009
Chicago Tribune (11/02)
4. First CMBS sale via TALF is on track as Fed's concern eases
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 04, 2009
Federal Reserve officials had raised concerns about a closely watched commercial mortgage-backed securities transaction, but the central bank now indicates that its worry is easing. The Developers Diversified Realty Corp. debt sale is expected to be a test for the U.S. government's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. The real estate industry hopes the debt sale will lead to similar deals. Wall Street Journal, The (11/04)
5. Commercial property mortgages: The next big bank nightmare
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 06, 2009
Experts agree that 2010, because of maturing commercial property loans, will be another ugly year for U.S. banks, but they can't say how bad it will be. Nobody knows what the loans are worth because banks aren't required to write them down to market value, BusinessWeek said in a lengthy story addressing the problem. "In addition to losses caused by declining property cash flows and deteriorating conditions for construction loans, losses will be boosted by the depreciating collateral value underlying those maturing loans," said Jon D. Greenlee, a federal bank regulator. BusinessWeek (11/05)
6. Real estate-owned portfolio at iStar Financial grows with foreclosures
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 02, 2009
CRENews.com (10/30)
7. Increased transaction volume good news for CRE market
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 03, 2009
The most recent data from MIT's transaction-based index shows the gap between sellers' demands and the price buyers are willing to pay is narrowing, which is good news for the commercial real estate markets as a whole and REIT investors in particular, said Brad Case, NAREIT vice president of research and industry information. Case examines the effect increased transaction volume could have on the market in this video segment. REIT.com (11/02)
8. REITs have the flexibility to buy low, sell high
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 05, 2009
The private-equity real estate funds don't have a formal strategy of buying at the peak of the asset bubble and trying to sell at the bottom, but an analysis of their performance shows that's pretty much what they end up doing. The problem for private equity is it can't really sell at the top of a bull market when new money is flowing in from investors. REITs can sell at the peak -- and that's what they often do. REIT.com (11/03)
9. Delinquencies, defaults surge on loans linked to CMBS
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 03, 2009
The rate of defaults and delinquencies on the commercial mortgages that underlie CMBS issues reached 4.52% in the last quarter compared with 0.8% in the same quarter a year ago, data provider Reis reported. The potential default on debt secured by Manhattan's Stuyvesant Town-Peter Cooper Village apartment complex could send the rate soaring. The financing package for the 2006 acquisition of the mammoth property included $3 billion of loans that were packaged into five CMBS issues. Bloomberg (11/02)
10. Commercial property to bottom out next year, PwC survey finds
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 05, 2009
The bad news for commercial real estate is that it's not going to find a bottom until 2010, based on the results of a survey by the accountants PricewaterhouseCoopers. The good news is that for buyers with money to invest, there are going to be great opportunities between now and then, the survey found. Susan Smith, director of the firm's real estate advisory service, said 2010 is "going to be a very challenging ownership period, but if you have cash and the dollars to do deals, you're going to do very, very well next year." Reuters (11/05) Bloomberg (11/05)
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