Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘residential’

Looks like our readers still see some opportunity in the ‘burbs. Personally, I’m going with Zombie Apocalypse…

See our previous polls here.

Last fall, Philadelphia-based Brandywine Realty Trust (NYSE: BDN) raised a few eyebrows when it announced a new joint venture with luxury home builder Toll Brothers (NYSE: TOL). Since it’s known as an owner/operator of office properties in the Mid-Atlantic (and to some extent Texas and California), the REIT’s decision to embark on a major multifamily venture in the suburbs suggests the company has realized the current limitations of the office sector since the real estate downturn.

The foray into multifamily is a reassuring move from an investors’ perspective. Since markets and asset types vary so widely, a little diversification within a REIT’s portfolio seems ideal for any stability-minded investor. Since Brandywine brought Toll Brothers on board (which itself is venturing into newish territory by developing apartments), the REIT has an experienced partner for the project. This is essential, since inexperience is a common liability when diversifying.

Now, Brandywine is upping the ante, moving from the mainstream–multifamily–to something more specialized: student housing. Read the rest of this entry »

Real estate expert Barbara Corcoran discusses the ongoing–though shaky–recovery of the housing sector, pointing out how housing may be affected by the “fiscal cliff”:

Read the rest of this entry »

And by Future, I mean next year.

Following up on last week’s Top 10 CRE Trends for 2013, here are the Top 10 U.S. Markets to Watch in  2013. Once again, this ranking comes from data compiled and published by ULI and PriceWaterhouseCoopers.

10. Orange County, CA 

Investment rank: 9. Development rank: 19. Homebuilding rank: 9.

9. Dallas/Fort Worth

10/7/10

8. Washington, DC

12/9/4

7. Seattle

6/8/7

6. Boston

4/6/8

5. Houston

5/5/6

4. Austin

7/4/5

3. San Jose Read the rest of this entry »

Let’s look at the Top 10 U.S. CMBS Bookrunners by issuance volume, according to data collected through September:

10. Citigroup (CMBS volume in the first 3 quarters: $1.46 billion)

9. RBS ($1.5 billion)

8. Barclays ($1.7 billion)

7. Morgan Stanley ($2 billion)

6. Bank of America ($2.45  billion)

5. UBS (2.93  billion) Read the rest of this entry »

Mensch:

Noun, informal. A decent, upright, mature and responsible person.

Schlemiel:

Noun, slang. An awkward, clumsy, or unlucky person whose endeavors tend to fail; a loser.

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Mensch of the Week:

 The Greater Philadelphia Cultural Alliance

Back in June, Business Insider published a list of the top up-and-coming cities, predicting which metropolises would offer the best jobs, wages, technology, sustainability, culture, and so on. Some designations seem more desirable than others: Boulder, CO is predicted to be the next hub for start-ups, Raleigh, NC the best place to find a job. Other cities are predicted to be good places for country music, hipsters, and the arts–which is something, I suppose, but not as appealing as the titles related to employment and commerce.

While acknowledging that Philadelphia, PA is one of the Ten Cities with the Fastest Growing Wages (a dubious title, similar to the “Most Improved Player” award I got as a kid at soccer camp), it’s also been proclaimed the next Dynamic Arts Destination. Indeed, Philadelphia has a number of famous museums, an unparalleled collection of public murals, and a great deal of other cultural gems that make living and visiting here appealing. But while cities may invest a great deal of energy and tax dollars in cultural institutions, the economic return on this investment is very difficult to calculate.  Read the rest of this entry »

Echoing the predictions of other analysts, Joe Azelby of JP Morgan Asset Management (NYSE: JPM) predicts increased investment in real assets, including both real estate and infrastructure, in coming years:

Read the rest of this entry »

Here’s a list of the 15 Housing Markets with the Worst Outlook for the Next Five Years:

• Amarillo, Texas. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +1.1 percent.
• College Station-Bryan, Texas. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +1.1 percent.
• Louisville-Jefferson County, Kentucky-Indiana. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +1.0 percent.
• Shreveport-Bossier City, Louisiana. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +0.9 percent.
• Columbia, Missouri. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +0.9 percent.
• St. George, Utah. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +0.9 percent.
• Atlantic City-Hammonton, New Jersey. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +0.9 percent.
• Laredo, Texas. Annualized expected growth from 2011-2016: +0.8 percent. Read the rest of this entry »

It’s Memorial Day. In addition to honoring the memory of America’s fallen troops, this holiday has come to mark the unofficial start of summer. In the Northeast, this is the weekend vacationers start going down to the shore ( “down the shore” if you’re coming from Philadelphia). For many towns on the coast, this is the start of a few-months tourist season that must sustain the local economies for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, this has become increasingly difficult since the Recession.

Unlike Miami, San Diego, or Las Vegas (which recently hosted the ICSC RECon), places like the Jersey shore only get one brief season to draw in tourists;  the period between now and Labor Day is absolutely essential. But the battered real estate market has created significant economic problems for such areas.

Read the rest of this entry »

Here are the Top 10 Tallest Residential Buildings in the World:

10. Eureka Tower, Melbourne Australia (Height: 975 ft.)

9. We’ve the Zenith Tower A, Busan, South Korea (987.5 ft.)

8. Capital City Moscow Tower, Moscow, Russia (989.5 ft.)

7. Ocean Heights, Dubai, UAE (1,017 ft.)

6. HHHR Tower, Dubai, UAE (1,040 ft.)

5. Q1, Gold Coast, Australia (1,058 ft.) Read the rest of this entry »