The commercial real estate investment outlook for 2009 looks grim at best, but there is more to that picture than meets the eye, contends a just-published capital markets report from Jones Lang LaSalle Inc. Smart players who can bring plenty of cash to the table will be poised to reap a once-in-a-generation bonanza. In the years to come, the report states, this year may “be most remembered for presenting some of the most attractive investment opportunities in living memory for astute investors who are very focused on quality assets in the market and armed with large amounts of equity at…

The prospect of nearby commercial development still raises the hackles of many Americans, but the economic crisis is also causing people to look more kindly on building in their communities, concludes an annual survey conducted by the Saint Consulting Group. Opposition to development remains remarkably consistent throughout all regions of the United States, according to Saint Consulting, which advises developers on winning approval for controversial projects. Seventy-nine percent of those in the West said that they would oppose new development in their home towns; the survey found the lowest level of anti-development sentiment, 70 percent, in the Midwest. The national…

The current market can be a feast for those entities that still have funds on hand, and institutional investors are among the few. For them, this turbulent market is a fertile ground for opportunity but, according to a new report by Prudential Investment Management, certain steps must be taken to achieve maximum results. The report was released the same week as a Jones Lang LaSalle report that claimed the investment market will soon be rife with bargains available to firms with capital to spend.  Most Institutional investors have a leg up on certain other investment vehicles like, for example, REITs–the…

The latest from the White House, which has been a absolute whirlwind of activity in the last month, is a proposal floated over the weekend to cut the federal deficit in the medium term by raising taxes on the wealthy and by winding down the war in Iraq, among other steps. Currently the annualized federal deficit is about $1.3 trillion, which is on its way to $1.5 trillion, counting the stimulus. The Obama proposal would take that to $533 billion by the end of his term. Besides allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire in 2010, the proposal would reportedly tax…

With an eye toward capitalizing on the widely anticipated discounting of commercial real estate assets, Charlotte, N.C.-based Spectrum Properties has just established Spectrum Properties Multifamily Acquisitions Inc. The new subsidiary will acquire $200 million to $500 million in apartment communities and student housing properties at a considerable discount to replacement cost–but not just yet. “Timing is the $64,000 question,” John Gray (pictured), president of Spectrum Properties Multifamily Acquisitions, told CPN. “We’re confident there’s going to be multi-family assets that will be available at attractive prices, but there’s been a gap between what buyers want to pay and what sellers want…

Moody’s Investors Service reported on Thursday that commercial real estate prices in the United States dropped 14.9 percent in 2008–a greater drop for the year than housing prices (down 12 percent), as it happens. Commercial property prices are roughly 16 percent off their peak of October 2007, the report continued, a drop that effectively turns the clock back to 2005 when it comes to commercial real estate valuation. Such valuation must have been a little hard to gauge, however, since separately the National Association of Realtors reported that U.S. commercial real estate activity is the slowest it has been in…