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Apartment assets in outlying areas of the Boston metropolitan area should see competition from the shadow rental market, but core assets are predicted to outperform, according to a recent Marcus & Millichap Real Estate Investment Services Inc. report. A major question, though, is how job losses will affect the city’s multi-family market.It will certainly suffer as the U.S. recession tightens its grip because renters are likely to transition into less-expensive housing. Class A properties in the outlying suburbs of North Shore and Mystic River North/Route 128, both of which prospered during the housing boom, will compete with shadow rental stock…

On Jan. 28, the International Monetary Fund released a revised “World Economic Outlook Update,” as global economic conditions have deteriorated rapidly since its previous forecast, issued on Nov. 6, 2008. The new forecast takes a particularly pessimistic view even in the current economic climate, significantly scaling back forecasts for global and U.S. gross domestic product growth and global trade. While the new estimates foretell a difficult 2009, long-term data suggest that global trade will rebound strongly as global economic growth stabilizes.The IMF’s 2009 forecast for global growth declined 170 basis points to 0.5 percent, and U.S. projected growth was marked…

Less than two weeks after the transition in Washington D.C., there’s been another leadership transition and a new boss for an enormous economy. That is, Wal-Mart Stores Inc. got a new CEO, Mike Duke, on Sunday. Duke, a Georgia native, has been with Wal-Mart since 1995, and before that spent nearly a quarter-century with Federated Department Stores and May Department Stores.As Wal-Mart goes, so goes the retail business. Last week, Duke told a meeting of Wal-Mart employees, in a presentation that was also webcast, that “sustainability is now even more critical than ever… eliminating waste is more important than ever,…

As the economy continues its downward spiral and credit markets suffer, loan performance and capitalization rates in seniors housing and care feel the heat, too, according to third quarter 2008 data tracked by the National Investment Center for the Seniors Housing & Care Industry (NIC).Each quarter, financial and performance data are collected by NIC from the nation’s leading senior living lenders, owners/operators and appraisal professionals and posted as the NIC Key Financial Indicators™ (KFIs) on the organization’s Web site.Loan volume placed in the industry has been in a downward trend since the first quarter of 2007 when it reached $2.28…

The retail market took a beating in 2008 and with the ongoing recession and anticipation of further job loss, the United States retail property sector is in for more trouble, according to a new report by Cushman & Wakefield’s Retail Industry Group.  Last year, a bevy of leading retailers either shut the doors of many locations or closed shop altogether, leaving an overabundance of space left on the market. Discount chains, drugstores and wholesale clubs are really the only retail businesses that are expanding, but their growth can account for only so much absorption. “Mervyns leases went to auction, and…

For most real estate sectors, the party ended last year, with the New Year bringing continued pain–or at least a severe hangover–that will likely linger throughout 2009 and beyond. But amidst the wreckage of the economic system, there are fundamental signs that all is not lost in the up-and-coming seniors housing space. In fact, with supply and demand in check in most markets, there are compelling reasons why this real estate sector may still have some reason to celebrate.While the avalanche of bad economic news has certainly impacted seniors housing, this sector has performed relatively well in the recent real…

Our new president has taken office at a difficult time, assuming the reins of a financial horse gone wild and to date unwilling to be tamed. Calming such a beast takes a firm and steady hand, a confident demeanor and consistent direction. Let it take the lead even briefly and you lose control. At the same time, this is a horse like none other in recent history, and training it requires an expertise nobody has. Will efforts under the new president have greater results than those tried so far? That remains to be seen, but without mastery, at least a…

NYLO Hotels L.LC. has announced its first franchise agreements for its urban lofts hotels at the 2009 ALIS Conference on Tuesday. The new-build projects are for full-service NYLO hotels in Chicago and New York, and for a select-service XP in Frisco, Texas, near Dallas. W. Developments L.L.C will build a NYLO in Chicago’s West Loop, while Sentry Hospitality L.L.C. will build a seven-story NYLO in New York’s Financial District. Behringer Harvard will build the first XP, a 127-room property in Frisco, Texas. John Russell, CEO of NYLO Hotels, sees a large market for both brands in secondary markets, as lower…

Ten years ago, futurists were predicting that online retail would threaten the prosperity of bricks-and-mortar retail, a prognostication about as accurate as the coming of the paperless office. On the other hand, online retail–at least in the form of Amazon–has managed to do unexpectedly well in the face of the current recession. For the quarter that ended on Dec. 31, the company’s net profit rose 9 percent to $225 million, or 52 cents a share, up from 48 cents in the same quarter last year.Amazon executives chalked it up to “focusing on a better customer experience through price, selection and…

All space has been claimed at ProLogis’ 5.9 million-square-foot Kaiser Commerce Center in Fontana, Calif., now that a third-party logistics provider has committed to a long-term lease for the last 484,000 square feet of space at the sprawling industrial property.  Consisting of nine structures built between 2002 and 2004, Kaiser Commerce Center (pictured) sits about an hour northeast of the Ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach. “One of the best attributes of the Inland Empire is its location,” Mike Del Santo, first vice president and market officer at ProLogis, told CPN. “The area is crisscrossed by Interstates 10 and…