Watch Out for Rising Bank Exposure to CRE All the market indicators point to clear sailing for commercial real estate investment. What could possibly go wrong? Hopefully nothing, but the next couple of years will…
Unconventional Wisdom In any presidential election year, many businesses hold off making major decisions due to uncertainty. With the election of Donald Trump, that feeling of uncertainty hasn’t gone away. And maybe that’s a good…
Real Estate Investment: Optimism vs. Cautions A Wall Street Journal article in November titled ‘Trouble Brewing in Commercial Real Estate’ paints a bleak picture of the $11 trillion sector in 2017. As someone who works…
Reports of the Death of Suburban Office Are Greatly Exaggerated In recent years, I’ve talked to investors and advisors who suggested that suburban office markets might never recover from the recession, and that owners might…
U.S. Banks Shy Away from Risk, Settle for Lower Yields Banks have taken a decidedly more cautious stance on commercial real estate lending this year. They’ve pulled back from construction lending, except in cases where…
Risk Retention Clarity is Key to CMBS Future The volume of commercial mortgage-backed securities (CMBS) issuance this year is running at about half of 2015’s level, for reasons that go beyond the disruption in global…
What Comes After the Fall of the CMBS Wall? Structured Finance CMBS issuance totaling nearly $100 billion in 2015 fell short of analyst predictions at the start of the year, but covered the $80 billion…
Business NOT as Usual Is there anything worse for a commercial real estate property and investment than a failing business tenant? Everything about the deal seemed right; so what went wrong?It may not be good…
Interest Rate Rise May Affect RE in a Roundabout Way When the U.S. Federal Reserve in December raised the benchmark interest rate for the first time since 2006, the commercial real estate industry yawned. The…
The multifamily housing cycle I like to cycle. Riding a bicycle is good exercise, a great way to get around locally and often a temporary respite from the pressures of modern life. If that surprises…