Business Specialties
Economy Watch: Immigrants Head for Mid-Tier Cities, Could Be Real Estate Boon
A study by the Lusk Center for Real Estate at the University of Southern California has found that an increasing number of immigrants to the United States are moving to places other than the standard gateway cities of New York, Los Angeles and Chicago. Instead many of these new Americans are favoring smaller cities where the cost of living is lower and jobs are easier to come by.
Policymakers and the GSEs: Risks to Watch
While the Obama Administration has not revealed any inclinations toward the direction it might take with revision of the government-sponsored entities, professors, pundits and others have proposed some possible directions.
Fitch: $74B Backlog Awaits CMBS Special Servicers
The good news: According to Fitch ratings, CMBS special servicers are making tracks through distressed loans and resolved approximately $8.7 billion in 2009. The bad news: There’s a long way to go.
Economy Watch: Retail Sales Up in February (Until The Next Revision)
The U.S. Census Bureau reported on Friday that retail sales nationwide edged up 0.3 percent between February and January, despite the snowstorms that kept a lot of people in the East home for more days than usual this winter, though perhaps there was an element of hoard-buying ahead of the storms.
Means Knaus Inks 12M Square Foot Deal with Lexington Realty
Means Knaus Partners has signed a 12 million square-foot property and construction management, leasing and development deal with Lexington Realty Trust, thereby doubling the size of its property management portfolio. Financial details were not released.
Economy Watch: Foreclosures Slow, But Still High
In its latest Foreclosure Market Report, RealtyTrac noted on Thursday that default notices, scheduled auctions and bank repossessions occurred on a little more than 308,500 residential properties nationwide in February. That’s 6 percent more than February 2009, but 2 percent fewer than in January 2010.
Cushman: Capital Flowing Into Real Estate
All is not exactly lost for the real estate market, according to Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick Goldman. In a capital markets update on Wednesday, the firm reports that there is capital coming into real estate, with lenders and equity investors reporting greater desire and capacity to put money to work.
Crocker Tapped to Lease Mizner Park Office Tower
Real estate investment firm Crocker Partners has been chosen to lease the 164,000 square-foot Mizner Park Office Tower and the 103,000 square-foot Mizner Park Office Plaza, both located at Mizner Park in downtown Boca Raton, Fla.
Economy Watch: Good News and Bad in State-by-State Unemployment
More states than not saw unemployment rates increases between January and February 2010, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics–30 in all, as well as the District of Columbia, while nine states saw decreases and 11 recorded no change. That’s the bad news.
JLL: Leasing Activity Between Recession and Recovery
At the intersection of recession and recovery is where we lie right now. That was the theme of a webcast presented by Jones Lang LaSalle.