Most Clicked Real Estate Investment SmartBrief Stories
1. Successful $400M Developers Diversified offering revives CMBS market
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
The spreads were "pleasantly tight" for the sold-out Developers Diversified Realty sale of $400 million of debt secured by commercial mortgages, said James Grady of Deutsche Asset Management. The offering, backed by lead underwriter Goldman Sachs Group, was the first new CMBS issue to make use of attractive government financing under the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. The transaction was closely watched because the CMBS market effectively shut down after the credit crunch hit. Reuters (11/16) Wall Street Journal, The (11/16) Bloomberg (11/16) Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (11/16)
2. Sam Zell: Those self-appointed experts have it backward
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 20, 2009
Wall Street Journal, The (11/19)
3. BofA's CMBS touted as another positive sign for market
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 20, 2009
A recent $400 million sale of commercial-mortgage bonds by Developers Diversified Realty helped reopen the securitization market. Bank of America is planning a $460 million deal of commercial-mortgage bonds, but unlike the DDR deal, BofA's is not eligible for the Federal Reserve's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. Insiders said the deal marks another positive sign for the commercial-mortgage market. Reuters (11/19) Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (11/20)
4. Zell says commercial real estate has further to fall
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 16, 2009
Barron's (subscription required) (11/16)
5. Starwood mortgage REIT invests $144 million in first 60 days
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
Bloomberg (11/16)
6. Banks brace for big CRE loan losses
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
Commercial real estate loan losses are a matter of when, not if, for most banks. "The commercial real estate business still has not been marked down," Cantor Fitzgerald CEO Howard Lutnick said. "The economy can't, in my opinion, grow fast enough that the tenants are going to go out and start hiring and growing and building and take up all these rents at $60 a foot." Reuters (11/18)
7. Investors ask for $2.14 billion in TALF loans from Fed
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 18, 2009
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York said investors requested $2.14 billion in loans under the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility. Only $72.2 million of that total is earmarked for the first new commercial mortgage-backed securities issue since 2008. The development indicates investors saw the Developers Diversified Realty deal, a $400 million CMBS, as solid enough to purchase without Fed backing, analysts said. Reuters (11/17)
8. Bond market has healthy appetite for first new TALF-backed CMBS
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 16, 2009
The first new offering of commercial mortgage-backed securities with attractive financing under the U.S. government's Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility program appears to be headed for a warm reception on the public debt markets. Goldman Sachs is the lead underwriter for $400 million of CMBS debt secured by 28 shopping centers owned by retail REIT Developers Diversified Realty. Investors looking into buying the bonds said market interest allowed the underwriters to bring the unleveraged yield on the top tier of the bonds down to 4%. "If other real estate investors can borrow money at this rate, it would be a real game changer for the commercial real estate market that has been so devoid of financing," said Scott Simon, a managing director at Pimco. Financial Times (tiered subscription model) (11/16) Wall Street Journal, The (11/16)
9. After seizing numerous banks, FDIC a major U.S. property owner
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 17, 2009
Along with more than 150 banks taken over when they failed, the U.S. government got an enormous mixed bag of properties, together valued by appraisers at about $1.8 billion. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. is working at selling the assets, but it is a task that could take years. The bank regulator ended up with more than 5,000 parcels of undeveloped or partially developed land, office buildings, stores, shopping centers and houses. They include a $1.7 million lodge in Colorado and an $18,700 clapboard house in Alabama. Wall Street Journal, The (11/17)
10. Commercial real estate's problems: Beyond any rescue?
Real Estate Investment SmartBrief | Nov 19, 2009
The U.S. government has pulled off a lot of bailouts recently, but in the deepening problems of commercial real estate, it might have met its match. It increasingly looks as if the government might have to just stand by and let bondholders and banks take huge losses on the nation's $3.4 trillion of deteriorating debt secured by commercial properties. The problem starts with voters. When it comes to wooing votes, giving a helping hand to bondholders doesn't work nearly as well as trying to keep families from losing their homes to foreclosure. Wall Street Journal, The (11/19)
Sign up for Real Estate Investment SmartBrief
