DAILY READS: March 16, 2020

Commercial Real Estate in the Age of the COVID-19 Virus

“In IREM’s webinar, they asked Steve Core the President of RiverRock Real Estate Group and Cindy Clare the Chief Operating Officer of Bell Partners, what their properties were doing to address COVID-19, and both of them stated that awareness and education were the very first steps in managing the situation.” Read more
Propmodo

Report: Amazon to Acquire Lord & Taylor Building in Billion Dollar Deal

“Most of Amazon’s purchase price will reportedly go toward paying off $750 million in construction loans for WeWork, with the company and its co-founder Adam Neumann not profiting from the agreement.” Read more
Chain Store Age

Did the Coronavirus Just End the Apartment Boom? This Investor Thinks So.

Worried about overpaying in a declining market, the Chicago-based real estate investor has “indefinitely postponed” the acquisitions eyed for three of its funds, Origin wrote in email to its investors this week. The firm pulled out of pending deals in Houston, Denver, Char lotte, N.C., Orlando, Fla., and Austin, Texas, said Origin Principal Michael Episcope. Read more
Crain’s Chicago

With Mortgage Rates at Record Lows, Banks and Brokers Scramble to Deal with Refinancing Rush

Wall Street investors buying up bonds and Treasury bills have caused mortgage rates to drop dramatically. The current rate for a 30-year fixed mortgage is 3.47 percent, a rate last seen in December 2012, when the European debt crisis drove rates down, according to the Mortgage Bankers Association, a national association representing the real estate finance industry. Read more
Yahoo Finance

Lenders Jittery, But Coronavirus Could Ultimately ‘Catapult’ Senior Housing M&A

The senior housing mergers and acquisitions market continued to hum along as the first cases appeared in communities, and even if a temporary slowdown occurs as the crisis deepens, dealmaking could surge dramatically when the pandemic wanes.  Read more
Senior Housing News