Numerous indications over the past few weeks point to an easing of investment capital for real estate deals. Life insurers have become more active lenders; new CMBS offerings are hitting the street; syndicators are starting to assemble new CDO offerings; and bank loan officers are reporting the first easing of lending standards in years.

The ongoing recovery of the capital markets is being aided by an improving U.S. economic recovery. Employment appears to have entered a period of consistently stronger growth, manufacturing output is expanding robustly, and business confidence is up. Corporate profits continue to be a core source of strength for the U.S. economy and corporations are spending more on new technology and new hires, which should reinforce employment growth and bolster consumer confidence, according to Jones Lang LaSalle.

To view the entire article please Click Here

ORLANDO – 

The City Beautiful drew a record-breaking 51.455 million visitors in 2010.

This is the first time any city in America has ever topped the 50 million visitor mark.

Orange County Mayor Teresa Jacobs and Orlando Mayor Buddy Dyer were joined by the chairman-elect of Visit Orlando making the announcement Tuesday.

To view the entire article please Click Here

In its 35 years, the state Department of Community Affairs has irritated some of Florida’s most powerful people, including developers, lawyers, the Florida Chamber of Commerce, the Florida Farm Bureau and a coalition of the state’s biggest landowners.

Yet since its inception in 1986, state officials have mostly regarded the DCA as an essential safeguard against the runaway growth that damaged the state in the 1960s and ’70s — the traffic cop pulling over reckless drivers on the highway to Florida’s future.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Florida’s labor landscape continues to improve slowly, with unemployment rates across the state and in Central Florida falling to some of the lowest levels in two years.

Metro Orlando’s jobless rate for April dipped to 9.9 percent, state officials said Friday, sliding below double digits for the first time since May 2009. The statewide rate fell to 10.8 percent, the lowest since September 2009.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Gary J. Earl, president and CEO of Workforce Central Florida, the region’s publicly funded workforce development agency. He talked to Sentinel staff writer Jim Stratton about how he sees the labor market and how his $23 million agency fits into it.

CFB: What’s your sense of Central Florida’s labor market now and what do you expect to see through the rest of the year?

As most everyone knows, the unemployment rate in the Central Florida region has managed to drop from the 12 percent range back down to below 10.5 percent. The recovery is quite slow, as most economists predicted. Part of that drop is caused by people dropping out of the labor market, part from actual recovery. What we see active in the labor market currently, and steadily over the last few months, is activity in retail sales, retail management, customer service, registered nursing and physical therapy, to name a few. So basically, retail and health services are doing well, but other areas of the economy continue to languish.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Wells Fargo’s Economic Outlook on Florida and varios cities throughout the State of Florida.

To view the entire article please Click Here