The Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act, signed into law by President Obama last week, is a cornerstone of Congress and the Administration’s financial regulatory reform agenda, creating the most sweeping changes in U.S. financial regulations since those put in place following the Great Depression.

The regulatory overhaul of the U.S. financial markets comes as commercial real estate has begun a nascent recovery following the Great Recession and the financial crisis of 2008. And while the new regulatory framework will undoubtedly impact the capital-intensive commercial real estate market, it may be years before the full extent of the impact will be known after the specific rules and regulations are developed to implement the law’s provisions.

To view the entire article please Click Here

The U.S. industrial real estate market now appears to be headed into recovery after several quarters of negative absorption.

With the economy sending out mixed signals but generally gaining strength, absorption of industrial buildings turned positive in the second quarter following six consecutive quarters of net loss, CoStar Group reported in its State of the Commercial Real Estate Industry Mid-Year 2010 Industrial Review & Outlook. The national industrial vacancy rate declined for the first time in two years, according to the company’s most recent analysis of industrial property markets.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Retail sales declined in June while more goods piled up on business shelves in May, underscoring a dilemma facing the U.S. economy.

Up to now, the recovery was fueled in large part by businesses rebuilding inventories depleted during the recession. But that process can’t continue if consumers cut back on spending, as now appears to be happening.

The Commerce Department reported Wednesday that retail sales fell 0.5% in June from May, the second month in a row that sales declined.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Some banks have a special technique for dealing with business borrowers who can’t repay loans coming due: Give them more time, hoping things improve and they can repay later.

Banks call it a wise strategy. Skeptics call it “extend and pretend.”

Banks are applying it, in particular, to commercial real-estate lending, where, during the boom, optimistic borrowers got in over their heads to the tune of tens of billions of dollars.

To view the entire article please Click Here

After more than two years of dark clouds across much of the Sunshine state, a few rays of sunlight are finally beginning to break through. We believe the recession ended in Florida shortly after it did nationwide, which we deem was around the middle of last year. Nonfarm employment has risen during three of the past four months, producing a net gain of 78,000 jobs since bottoming in January of this year. While part of the recent improvement is due to hiring for the decennial Census, hiring has picked up across a broad assortment of industries, including hard-hit sectors, such as manufacturing and construction.

Unfortunately, Florida’s businesses have quite a bit of ground to make up and gains have, so far, been extremely tentative. Job losses during this past recession were far more severe than the nation’s and were the worst for the state in the modern era. Close to 925,000 jobs were lost across Florida between the cycle’s peak in March 2007 and the low in January 2010. This loss translates into 10.8 percent of all job losses nationwide. The heaviest cutbacks were in sectors tied most closely to the state’s housing boom. Just over a quarter of Florida’s job losses were in the construction industry, 10 percent were in manufacturing, 10 percent in financial services, 10 percent in retail trade and 5 percent were in wholesale trade.

To view the entire article please Click Here