U.S. industrial real estate markets began 2010 much like they finished 2009: poorly. Demand for warehouse space remained elusive for most markets as warehouse users wanted further evidence the economy was on a sustained growth path before committing to new premises. Rents fell again and continued a nine quarter-long series of declines. Even though the economy registered relatively robust growth in the first quarter and further expansion is expected in the coming quarters, U.S. warehouse markets are unlikely to stage any vigorous bounce back until year-end at the earliest. Even though the Institute for Supply Management (ISM) manufacturing index posted a ninth consecutive reading above the critical “50” level (April – 60.4), businesses remained somewhat hesitant to commit to expansion even if orders are on the rise and profits are increasing. For the next few quarters a further increase in vacancy is anticipated, although at a much reduced rate with vacancies plateauing as early as the third or fourth quarters.

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Some real-estate funds, which raised billions of dollars hoping to pounce on bargain properties, are returning money to investors after finding slim pickings, as many banks avoid dumping property by extending and restructuring loans.

A slew of private-equity funds, including ones run by Morgan Stanley, Rockpoint Group LLC and Chicago developer John Buck’s firm, have taken the unusual step of allowing investors to exit their funding commitments when the funds’ investment period expired. A total of 19 private-equity real-estate funds have either returned or plan to return more than $6 billion of capital to investors, said Real Estate Alert, a trade publication. Others have sought to extend their investment periods or change their investment mandates in light of the short supply.

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Florida’s leading indicator — a measurement of economic activity in the state compiled by Durham, N.H.-based e-forecasting.com — increased in March by 1 percent after going up 0.8 percent in February.

Nine of the 10 components that make up Florida’s leading indicator had a positive contribution in March: unemployment claims, weekly hours in manufacturing, building permits, exports of manufactures, international tourism outlook, stock prices (national), interest rate spread, technology index (national) and domestic vacation barometer.

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Brevard County real estate investor Charles Fischer last month financed the sale of a home he put on the market, helping out the buyer whose credit wasn’t good enough to get a bank loan.

That put the buyer — who started his own lawn care business after losing his job — and his three daughters into a home at the same price it would have cost to rent one.

But a proposed law working its way through the U.S. Senate could severely limit seller-funded/owner-financing deals involving both residential and commercial real estate.

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The news of late from public pension funds would indicate that they may be warming to commercial real estate again — even after taking a beating on those investments over the past couple of years.

In the past couple of weeks, pension plans both in the United States and Canada have been showing up as buyers in trophy properties, pumping money into new investment funds and lining up joint venture investors and partners in other deals. Yet those individual deals have been trumped by the Employees Retirement System of Texas, which in the same time frame, has revealed plans to increase its commercial real estate portfolio to up to $1.7 billion from about $460 million. The increase allocation for investment is to occur over the next five years, but with the bulk of the allocation set to be spent this year and next.

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Central Florida home prices are so low that buyers earning the median household income can now afford two mid-priced houses.

While prices have been cut in half during the past three years — from a peak of $250,000 in mid-2007 to $110,000 in March — wages have not dropped off at all, reports show. While those freefalling prices have left 48 percent of Florida’s mortgage holders underwater on their home loans, about 11,000 Orlando-area buyers have benefited in the past five months by purchasing during record levels of affordability, which is measured by comparing prices and wages.

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A look into the Industrial Real Estate market in Central Florida by The Orlando Business Journal.

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NEW YORK, May 3, 2010 – FirstService Williams, which has served the needs of commercial real estate clients in the New York area for nearly nine decades, today officially became Colliers International. The firm has adopted the brand, which includes a modernized logo, and will continue to operate as the New York Tri-State hub of Colliers International, the world’s third largest commercial real estate services organization.

The new name, however, goes far beyond rebranding.  Like its fellow Colliers International offices around the globe, the former FirstService Williams can now better service its clients on a local, regional, national and international basis, thanks to an expansive roster of service lines, industry-leading executives and 15,000 employees working out of more than 480 offices in 61 countries. In addition, Colliers International’s Tri-state hub has vowed to continue its expansion by hiring the industry’s best and brightest, further expanding service lines and opening new offices across the region.

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Colliers Arnold is pleased to announce that CoStar Group (Nasdaq:CSGP) has selected Matt Sullivan, CCIM and Wilson McDowell, CCIM as CoStar Power Broker Award winners, for being the “best of the best” in commercial real estate brokerage.  The annual recognition program, now in its eighth year, spotlights the U.S. firms and individual brokers who closed the highest transaction volume in commercial property sales and leases during the 2009 calendar year.  All awards are based on transaction data in CoStar’s commercial real estate information database.

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