Real Insight. Real Estate.

Posts Tagged ‘government’

The 10 Biggest Bailout Recipients -

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10. Tulsa (projected vacancy rate in 2010: 19.2 percent, up 2.2 percentage points from 2008). The oil and gas sector was an albatross in the 1980s, when Tulsa suffered from a severe energy bust. But in recent years energy (along with healthcare, aerospace, and government) has helped sustain Tulsa’s economy. Employment and economic growth are much better than national averages, and unlike in other cities, most big construction projects have stayed on track. With new buildings coming online, the overall vacancy rate will stay high until the economy fully rebounds. But it will worsen only slightly in 2010 and probably start to improve by 2011.

9. Pittsburgh (17.3 percent, up 2.4 points). This once industrial city wriggled out of the Rust Belt years ago, and the economy now revolves around medicine, technology, and higher ed. At 7.7 percent, the unemployment rate is nearly 2 percentage points lower than the national average. Few people got rich in Pittsburgh during the real estate boom, which seemed to pass the city by. But the bust has spared Pittsburgh as well, with home prices remaining more stable than in most other markets. That leaves the Steel City primed for a recovery. Read the rest of this entry »

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In the past few months there has been a lot of press coverage on the government sponsored recapitalization of failing banks. Many taxpayers are rightfully upset about the issue, but the government relief program took effect nonetheless, albeit forcefully in some cases. Amidst all the media coverage however, there is one issue I think analysts and industry “experts” could do a better job of providing insight on: the ownership structure of banks in the U.S. banking system. I think there needs to be a discussion in the banking industry about whether or not the corporate model is the best organizational structure for U.S. banks.

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Why Ratings Agencies Who’ve Failed, Get A Pass

There was a recent article in the NY Times that asked a question most people haven’t had the time to think about, but is a great question nonetheless.  With the entire banking industry, AIG, the government, the auto industry, and the credit card industry all taking a serious blow both financially and in image, one question remains. How have the ratings agencies, who misrepresented the creditworthiness of massive pools of residential and commercial subprime mortgages, which  got our economy into the mess its currently in, escaped similar ridicule, regulation, and oversight? Read the rest of this entry »

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Real Questions…

…. and Unintended Consequences

Question 1:

If you are a buyer of real estate (and actually have capital), what sort of IRR are you looking for? 20%? 30%?

Question 2:

If you are an owner of real estate, why on earth would you sell into this market unless you absolutely had to?

These questions succinctly sum up the entire commercial real estate market. Other statements examine facets of the problem, but they all revolve around this problem we’ll call, “The Bid/Offer Spread”.

Every day, the fund managers who still have jobs wake up, read the Wall Street Journal and say to themselves, “If I’m going to buy a property, I deserve a discount.” Any possible ‘green shoots’ notwithstanding, unemployment is high, the economy is in recession, global icons are getting destroyed (or taken over by the government), and the banking system as a whole is only viable because the Feds have stepped in with HUGE assistance programs. You can also throw in the fact that recent liquid market action (rally in gold, commodities and TIPS while the 10yr notes sells off ) is telling us we might even have an inflation problem in the not-so-distant future. Read the rest of this entry »

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