Moody's downgrades China's credit rating | Blackstone's public non-listed REIT does well with small investors | Retail debt downgrades include scrutiny of leases
May 24, 2017
The daily source on REITs and real estate investment
Moody's Investors Service has lowered its rating for China's government debt to A1 from Aa3, responding to the likelihood that the debt load will increase. This is the first time the credit rating agency has downgraded Chinese debt since 1989.
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Blackstone Real Estate Income Trust, Blackstone's first public non-listed REIT, launched this January, has raised $755.4 million -- or 41% of all the funds the entire public non-listed REIT market has raised to date this year, according to Robert A. Stanger & Co. The company is well on its way to meeting its goal of targeting mom-and-pop real estate investors.
Bond rating companies are beginning to downgrade retail debt that includes troubled anchors or otherwise struggling malls. As part of their scrutiny, they are looking at leases that allow retailers to negotiate for more concessions such as early termination or rent relief.
The growing number of mixed-use developments around urban transit hubs such as Chicago; Boston; Denver; Austin, Texas; and Washington, D.C. -- many built by REITs -- are attracting retail and office tenants eager to be near passing foot traffic. "It's definitely a factor when tenants are making their final choice," said E. Nelson Mills, CEO of Columbia Property Trust.
Hines plans to develop a 27-acre, mixed-used tower in downtown Miami, called Miami Worldcenter. The 600,000-square-foot, 45-story project will rival Manhattan's Hudson Yards as one of the largest building projects underway in the US right now.
Wendy Mann, CEO of CREW Network, talks about the advancements women have made in commercial real estate and what CREW is doing now to groom future leaders in the industry. "It's been proven that companies are more successful when they have men and women at the leadership helm," she says.
The proposed border adjustment tax is coming under fire from some conservative House Republicans, Senate Republicans, and retailers and other corporations that rely on imports. If Republicans can't build support for the idea, they would need to find another way to pay for corporate tax cuts.
The Financial Stability Oversight Council could become a vehicle to change how the Dodd-Frank Act is interpreted and enforced under US Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin. "FSOC's ability to prod regulators to do something they aren't otherwise doing can be incredibly powerful," said Dennis Kelleher, president and CEO of Better Markets.
The US Department of Labor's fiduciary rule will take effect June 9. However, its review is ongoing, and significant revisions could still happen, experts say.
New York City continues to clamp down on illegal room-sharing as Airbnb becomes more proactive in helping weed out these listings. "We have zero tolerance for illegal hotels on our platform in New York," says Peter Schottenfels, Airbnb's press secretary for New York and New England.
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Restlessness is discontent -- and discontent is the first necessity of progress.
