Positive momentum in Atlanta, By Robert Demeter, Commercial Property Executive
“The metro’s favorable business climate continues to entice companies to relocate. Through March, the job market added 103,100 positions, the bulk of which were in professional and business services. The hospitality industry is booming, as the state generated a record-breaking $61.1 billion in commercial sales in 2016. Furthermore, the presence of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention boosts medical research and has helped to propel health-care employment to record highs. Meanwhile, Atlanta’s growing film industry is making the city competitive with Hollywood.”
Amazon poised to enter U.S. real estate service industry, By Alex Finkelstein, World Property Journal
“Right now, Amazon has pulled slightly ahead of Trump on the headline scale. The Seattle-based retail conglomerate earlier this week briefly teased viewers on its web site with a definite hint it will shortly be entering the already crowded real estate referral market.”
Kaplan plans new apartments downtown as alternative to pricey midtown, By Jarred Schenke, Bisnow
“The $80 million Generation Atlanta will be targeted toward millennials and is shooting for rents around $2.09/square-foot, which is higher than the average Downtown Atlanta apartment rent of about $1.60/square-foot, according to Haddow & Co. But as new construction, the price is lower than new apartments opening up in nearby Midtown, Kaplan said. According to Haddow, new Class-A apartments in Midtown rent for an average of $2.50/square-foot.”
Alternative lenders moving into the mainstream, By Orest Mandzy, Urban Land Magazine
“Alternative, or nonbank, lenders—a staple in the commercial real estate industry for decades—have come into their own. They are filling in gaps in the mortgage world where they find them, whether it be the result of increasing capital requirements for banks, consolidation in the banking sector, or a pullback by commercial mortgage–backed securities (CMBS) lenders. And they are not going away any time soon, given the vast sums of capital they’ve raised.”
Will Fed be able to stick its move to trim massive securities holdings by $2.3 trillion, By Mark Heschmeyer, Costar
“While members of the Fed are in agreement on the need to divest its securities holdings, there is some debate over how the balance sheet reduction will impact the path of interest rates, according to Tate Lacey, a policy analyst at the Cato Institute. Some members believe that the frequency of interest rate increases should slow as its securities roll off. The Fed has increased the rate three times in the last seven months. Other members believe that ‘normalizing’ the Fed’s balance sheet will not materially affect the path of rate hikes.”