Real-estate developer Stephen Ross and his partners spent more than a year digging into U.S. banks, including more than 100 with loans to local bakeries, gas stations and amusement parks. They hoped to spend about $1.1 billion buying or investing in lenders.

But the deeper they went, the worse things looked. As a result, Related Cos., the New York firm in which Mr. Ross is chief executive, gave back the money it raised from roughly 150 investors, including hedge-fund manager David Einhorn. The firm did find several investments it was interested in but was outbid.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Florida’s consumer confidence index rose this month to 64, up three points from a revised mark of 61 in August, which was only two points higher than the record low of 59 set in June 2008, according to a new University of Florida survey.

“The increase in confidence this month was mostly a rebound from very low levels in August,” said Chris McCarty, director of UF’s Bureau of Economic and Business Research and Survey Research Center, which conducted the survey.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Florida’s leading indicator — a measurement of economic activity in the state compiled by Durham, N.H.-based e-forecasting.com — rose in July by 0.1 percent after decreasing by 0.1 percent in June.

The July data is the most recent available.

To view the entire article please Click Here

The effects from late summer’s national and international economic challenges have cast a huge shadow over the commercial real estate market recovery. Nothing postpones a leasing, development or investment decision like the uncertainty surrounding the prospect of a national default, volatile stock markets, a slowdown in retail sales, slouching corporate profit growth, and declining bank lending.

These indicators (while still pointing toward growth) have generally grown progressively weaker since late 2010. And while last year they all pointed to improved employment recovery, that expected level of job growth no longer appears to be the case.

To view entire article click here

DCT Industrial Trust Inc. said Tuesday it has acquired a three-building portfolio in Orlando, Fla., for $17 million.

The three bulk-distribution facilities are in the southwest Orlando area, in a regional distribution hub for many retailers and suppliers, the Denver industrial real estate company (NYSE: DCT) said.

To view the entire article please Click Here

An Oviedo firm plans to build a new 80,000-square-foot, $5 million-plus warehouse/distribution center in unincorporated Seminole County and create 20 more jobs.

Nutrex Research Inc., which has operated from a 27,000-square-foot facility in Oviedo since 2006, will nearly triple its space on a 5-acre site in the South Park Business Center. Nutrex’s related TSO Enterprises LLC bought the site in June for $789,791 from Oviedo-based developer M&O LP.

To view the entire article please Click Here

The number of American households that fell behind on their mortgages increased slightly in the second quarter from the previous quarter, according to a survey released Monday, an unwelcome sign for the U.S. economy.

After falling for most of the year, the figures offer the latest indication of how the slumping job market threatens to create new problems for housing. Mortgage delinquencies, while still down from their year-earlier levels, have now edged up in two consecutive quarters after hitting a plateau last year, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Hit hard when the real estate bubble popped in 2007, many South Florida-based community banks are still reeling from the aftershocks.

Over the last few years, past-due loans have mounted, funds required to offset loan losses have skyrocketed, and real estate has been repossessed and marked down, leading to a flood of red ink and a drain on capital.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Marty Busekrus, a senior associate investment properties for CB Richard Ellis | Capital Markets in Boca Raton, FL, got a call this past Monday morning from a potential office building buyer as mania struck the stock markets. The buyer, who has been trying to buy an office building from one of Busekrus’ clients, said his seller better sell quick as the stock markets were tanking.

Busekrus contacted the seller who responded with a different take, saying instead that everyone is shifting to hard assets so he’s thinking about raising the price.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Friday’s downgrade of the nation’s creditworthiness is unlikely to affect Florida’s finances, but the Wall Street plummet that followed it Monday could have a negative effect on the state’s long-term recovery if the panic lingers, state money experts say.

“The S & P downgrade from my perspective is more noise than anything else,” said Ben Watkins, director of the state’s Division of Bond Finance. “The real underlying concern is whether the U.S. economy is slipping back into recession. That’s what people are concerned about.”

To view the entire article please Click Here

The University of Central Florida is out with its latest quarterly economic forecast for the state, and you should feel free to pick any two adjectives to describe it: Gloomy, sluggish, disappointing or dreary.

The forecast calls for a steady by agonizingly slow recovery dominated by high unemployment and a soft housing market. UCF economist Sean Snaith says the jobless rate will not fall below 10 percent until next year, and housing starts will remain only a small fraction of what they were during the boom times.

To view the entire article please Click Here

As the federal government has doggedly worked through concerns about foreclosure documentation practices, federal financial agencies have aggressively resumed their sale of foreclosed properties.

Through the first half of the year, the FDIC has sold $1.073 billion in foreclosed properties. This compares to $974.7 million in the first half of last year and $482.2 million in the first half of 2009.

To view the entire article please Click Here

With more than two months left in its fiscal year, the U.S. Small Business Administration has approved more than $16.4 billion in loans through its flagship 7(a) lending program.

But this record pace has its downside: The 7(a) program is authorized to do only $17.5 billion in loans this fiscal year. Once that cap is reached, the SBA can’t approve any more 7(a) loans until a new fiscal year begins Oct. 1.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Foreclosure activity has fallen throughout the country, slowed by paperwork problems rather than an improvement in the market.

During the first six months of 2011, 84% of U.S. cities with populations of 200,000 or higher posted declines in new foreclosure activity, according to a study released today by RealtyTrac, a real-estate research firm. Foreclosure activity slowed in 178 of the nation’s 211 metropolitan areas when compared with last year.

To view the entire article please Click Here

The nation’s bankers are sounding more optimistic about the commercial real estate markets than at any time since the onslaught of the Great Recession in 2007. In their second quarter earnings conference calls over the past week, several spoke of plans to re-enter the CRE market or actually reported CRE loan growth already.

Bankers also reported increased demand from CRE borrowers and increasing competition for new business – particularly multifamily. The level of interest in CRE lending was similar from both big banks and community banks.

To view the entire article please Click Here

In a sign that the Central Florida industrial market is improving, in the past 60 days Matt Sullivan, SIOR, CCIM, and Wilson McDowell, CCIM, of Colliers International Central Florida have closed 23 industrial deals totaling just over 630,000sf of transactions.

Several notable transactions include leases for Orange County, Super Color and Peninsula Food Service, and investment sales of properties on North Goldenrod Road and University Boulevard.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Central Florida’s economy is on the mend this year, despite businesses’ overall feelings to the contrary.

Consider this data:

• Second quarter’s commercial office space vacancy rate of 20.7 percent was 2 points better than the same period last year, which indicates more people are being hired to occupy those previously empty spaces.

• Small Business Administration lending was up by a third in Orange, Osceola, Seminole and Lake counties from October through June, an indication that business startups and expansions are on the rise and more people are being hired for that additional work.

• Roughly 6,600 jobs were created between May 2010 and May 2011, putting more dollars in circulation, which could boost hiring even more if companies see a rise in consumer spending

To view the entire article please Click Here

Orlando’s status as a biotech cluster may get a dose of inhaled steroids.

Orlando-based Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp., which makes generic respiratory drugs, is planning a $100 million expansion with 100 new, high-wage jobs in either Orlando or Murray, Ky.

“We’re very hopeful that Orlando is where the facility will end up, but we’d be remiss not to consider our options,” said Nephron CEO Lou Kennedy.

To view the entire article please Click Here

If anything has been predictable about the 2011 commercial real estate market recovery, it’s that it has been unpredictable. For a year that began with much promise following the increased leasing activity, thawing capital flow and widening investor interest that characterized the second half of last year, the momentum in the market seems to have flattened out.

This has been more baffling than discouraging to real estate professionals across the country. Key indicators across a wide number of local markets still hold promise for more vigorous activity. However, according to a survey of readers conducted by CoStar News, landlords, lenders, investors and tenants just aren’t making the connections in the marketplace needed to jump start a sustained recovery.

To view the entire article please Click Here