Commercial Real Estate Finance

Posts Tagged ‘taxes’

Economist Andy Xie discusses real estate activity in Asian markets such as Hong Kong and Singapore. He suggests China’s property market is not what it seems:

Read the rest of this entry »

There’s no avoiding the year-end list-making, so why fight it? Once again, it’s time to gather the events of the past year and assign an arbitrary number to each one, just like your favorite TV clip show. Without further ado, let the arbitrary ranking begin!

The Top 12 Commercial Real Estate Stories of 2012!

12. Large Private Equity and Alternative Investment Companies Invest More Heavily in CRE

With increasing trepidation toward high-leverage deals and stock-market investment, many private firms are deploying even more capital into commercial real estate investment. Blackstone Group (NYSE: BX) is leading the charge.

11. Sears Holdings Pares Down Its Portfolio

Sears Holdings (NYSE: (SHLD), owner of Sears and Kmart stores, announces the closure of over 100 of its locations in response to lackluster sales over the 2011 holidays. Sears has opted to cut its under-performing stores rather than prop them up as they’ve done in the past, focusing the company’s energies on their more successful locations. It’s not especially surprising, since Sears is a company many experts feared was headed for bankruptcy.

10. The World’s Biggest Real Estate Company Gets Even Bigger

The S&P 100 index brings in a new member: shopping mall REIT Simon Property Group. Simon is the first REIT to join the prestigious list.

9. Large Banks Continue to Make People Angry

This time through widespread manipulation of the Libor, an important benchmark in international finance. Over the course of the year, local and international investigations lead to many high-profile “resignations” and whopping government fines.

8. The Empire State Building Goes Public

Well, it tries to. Following years of expensive retrofits, the storied skyscraper becomes the subject of a legal battle between its legacy investors and Malkin Holdings, which wants to take the property public as part of Empire State Realty Trust.

7. Dubai Buys a Boat

That about sums it up. Read the rest of this entry »

The recent results of the 2010 elections have left the GOP with a house majority and stronger numbers in the senate, so what does this all mean for commercial real estate?  The hope is that this shift of power in Washington will allow Republicans to protect our profits by reworking parts of financial regulation and thwarting efforts to raise taxes.  Perhaps the most prominent issue for commercial real estate professionals is the taxation of “carried interest“.

Read the rest of this entry »

Steve Forbes is not a stupid man, so I’ll blame election season for the nonsense he spewed in this article. Please realize that I’m not endorsing a given political party or point of view. I’m just looking at some assertions that leave me wanting someone to seriously debate the issues at hand; rather than just looking for a way to compare Obama and Hoover. Read the rest of this entry »

These days many people are interested in buying new homes at fire sale prices, but the thought of selling their home at those same low prices is less than ideal. Read the rest of this entry »

As I sit here and watch the S&P 500 trade through 1040, I can’t help but wonder, “Are we Japan?”

That’s right, we’re back to the “Inflation/Deflation” debate. Are we going to print endless sums of money and end up like Zimbabwe? Or, are we going to be too conservative with the USD and end up like Japan? Or, are we going to spend like maniacs and end up like Greece?

Assuming we have an answer, what does it have to do with commercial real estate? Read the rest of this entry »