I just got this email and had to share. There are some pretty amazing facts about Walmart here (assuming all are true). 1. Americans spend $36,000,000 at Wal-Mart every hour of every day. 2. This works out to $20,928 in profit every minute! 3. Wal-Mart will sell more from January 1st to St. Patrick’s Day [...]
Apr
12
Mar
30
Phoenix Retail Sucking Wind
The Phoenix Business Journal published a not-so-surprising article this past Friday about the state of retail shopping centers in the Phoenix MSA. The article paints a dismal picture for the state of retail in Phoenix. According to David Wetta, director of Marcus & Millichap’s national retail group, there are 1,753 retail properties in the Valley [...]
Mar
02
Are CAP Rates Heading Back Down?
That is a pretty broad question. I can’t say for sure for every single product type nor do I really care about CAP Rate trends for multi-tenant office/industrial/multi-family/etc. buildings in the midwest/south/east/etc. I can make an intelligent guess and say no, CAP Rates are not heading back down, they are continuing to rise – industry-wide. [...]
Mar
01
Another CREOBA Post
I have been receiving numerous emails from CREOBA every single day for a very long time and just archiving them for some future post or action that I have yet to think of. Today’s email does require a quick mention though. Apparently, CREOBA has decided to start offering their hugely valuable (ha!) courses via webinar! [...]
Dec
15
Holiday CRE Video
Enjoy. (HT – Calculated Risk)
Nov
12
Comments on CoStar Article About Institutional Transactions
This morning, CoStar published an article entitled Institutional Investors Throwing Big Money Around Class A Quality Retail Property. The article highlights several recent large transactions that have taken place and interviews guys from CBRE, Marcus & Millichap and Jones Lange LaSalle for opinions. A few of the points/quotes caught my attention and I thought I’d [...]
Oct
28
CRE Takeaways From Bill Gross’ Investment Outlook
Bill Gross, PIMCO’s revered managing director, has just published his most recent investment outlook. In it, he calls the end of the recent market rally and warns of a necessity to come to grips with the fact that a new normal is headed our way. The closing sentences sum up his point nicely and he [...]
Oct
28
Quick Comments on NYC Office Sublease Market
DealBook has an article up today about the office sublease market in NYC and the impact lower offering rates are having on space offered directly by building owners. Every time I read about NYC rents my head just spins. The numbers are just astronomical. According to the article, average asking rents for Class A office [...]
Oct
26
CMBS Bonds Downgraded on Special Servicing Action
Standard & Poor’s had downgraded 15 classes of bonds backed by a $425 million loan secured against the Four Seasons Hotel in New York and 3 other luxury resort hotels. The action was triggered by a drop in cash flow which was 46% below S&P expectations. Surely, the expected cash flow figure had already been [...]
Oct
22
A Few More Words on Vacancy Factors in CRE Underwriting
I wanted to make another quick point on CRE underwriting as it relates to vacancy. Some of the more “with it” sellers have begun allowing vacancy factors underwritten into their offering memorandums. What is often overlooked is the actual relation of the vacancy factor to operations. Often you will see a vacancy factor of 3% [...]
Oct
22
Is A New Underwriting Trend Emerging in CRE?
I received a marketing brochure today that, quite frankly, left me a bit shocked. The property is a multi-tenant retail building in a power center in Southern California. The shocking part of the offering was that the seller and broker were NOT attempting to capitalize income from the vacant suites. Maybe CRE practitioners are starting [...]
Oct
14
Dow 10K: Celebrating 10 Years of 0% Return
Here’s a great email I received from a friend at Citibank this evening: Dow 10K: Celebrating 10 Years of 0% Return Congratulations investors. The Dow has hit 10,000 on October 14th, 2009. You now have made officially 0 percent return if you invested in this index when the Dow first hit this magical level in [...]
Oct
08
Vocal Attack on Realty Income
Realty Income, the publicly traded single-tenant REIT saw its share price drop 4.6% on a statement from hedge fund manager William Ackman of Pershing Square Capital Management. Mr. Ackman announced that his firm has taken a short position in the REIT citing concerns about the REIT’s portfolio. From the New York Post article: ….[Mr. Ackman] [...]
Oct
07
Office Vacancy at 16.5%
Another post from Calculated Risk showing office vacancy rates since 1991. We are not as bad as we were in 1991 but it looks like we are heading there. Graph below from CR.
Oct
07
Inland Empire Vacancy
Calculated risk put up a post yesterday about a topic that is near and dear to my heart: the Inland Empire commercial real estate market. In summary, the retail vacancy rate continues to rise in the Inland empire. I also thought it was humorous that the primary source for this data was CB Richard Ellis. [...]