Opportunistic investors are buying stakes in troubled funds at steep discounts or lending the funds money in deals that give them a steady return and potentially a share in the profit if real-estate markets rebound. At the same time, some funds are succeeding in persuading existing investors to cough up more capital, although this typically is an uphill struggle.

To view the entire article please Click Here

Properties of sufficient quality and size for inclusion in large institutional portfolios saw their value decline by 5.05% during the month following a similar dip in June. The cumulative drop of nearly 10% over the two-month period nearly offsets the strong 11.78% increase in May that gave analysts hope that the recovery might be accelerating. As a result, the three-month change in the investment grade index ending July 31 posted a slight 1% increase. The CCRSI August report is based on data through the end of July.

To view the entire article please Click Here

The likelihood of higher marginal and capital gains and dividend taxes, along with the impacts of health-care reform, financial regulatory reform and proposed changes in the way investment and leasing income are accounted for, has been a major preoccupation of the real estate industry in 2010. As the stretch run for the mid-term election campaigns unfolds, however, with the national unemployment rate stalled at around 9.5%, many Republicans and U.S. businesses are wasting no time in calling on President Obama and the Democrat-controlled Congress to extend the capital gains tax cuts for all income brackets, including families earning at least $250,000 a year.

To view the entire article please Click Here

CoStar Group recently analyzed the state of distressed real estate across the U.S., and presented its findings in a webinar on Wednesday in which it, discussing who is holding distressed real estate, how much presently exists by product type, what distressed deals have closed so far, and where the best opportunities are expected for buying distress in the near future.

To view the entire article please Click Here

A new change in accounting rules may require commercial real estate tenants and banks to recognize all leases as liabilities on their balance sheets.

This could cost commercial tenants both time and money, drive down commercial property values, make it tougher for investors to buy property and force banks to have to raise more capital. It also could make it harder for companies to get loans and mean fewer tenants for commercial landlords as some companies move to buy property rather than lease it.

To view the entire article please Click Here
]]> http://www.thecfiteam.com/2010/08/new-accounting-rules-may-change-how-commercial-tenants-book-leases/feed/ 0 http://www.thecfiteam.com/2010/08/foreclosed-on%e2%80%94by-the-u-s/ http://www.thecfiteam.com/2010/08/foreclosed-on%e2%80%94by-the-u-s/#comments Tue, 03 Aug 2010 12:58:01 +0000 cfiteam http://www.thecfiteam.com/?p=436 James Currell is struggling to prevent his Minnesota home from being foreclosed. But his lender isn’t a bank. It is the U.S. government.

The Federal Reserve Bank of New York is facing the prospect of foreclosing on a number of properties in the coming months, from homes to commercial buildings, a result of a souring mortgage portfolio it took over when it helped bail out Bear Stearns in 2008.

To view the entire article please Click Here

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

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

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

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