Each Wednesday, The Wrap presents a compilation of recent noteworthy commercial real estate stories from a variety of publications. Below are links to five stories that caught our eyes in recent days.
• TPG Capital in Talks to Buy Cassidy Turley by Dan Geiger of Crain’s New York Business.
Key excerpt:
“The deal to buy Cassidy Turley, which sources cautioned was not yet finalized and could still fall apart, would be the latest in a shift toward consolidation in the real estate services industry. In recent months, Savills, a U.K.-based real estate services firm, agreed to purchase New York-based tenant-rep brokerage firm, Studley, for $260 million. And in 2011, Wall Street firm BGC Partners bought Newmark Knight Frank and merged it with another real estate company it subsequently purchased out of bankruptcy, Grubb & Ellis.”
• Investing in Commercial Real Estate by Joseph Cafariello of Wealth Daily.
Key excerpt:
“Following one of the most devastating shake-outs in real estate values in over 80 years since the Great Depression, real estate has rebounded into one of the hottest markets in which to invest.
Since the market bottomed in March of 2009, the Vanguard REIT ETF (NYSE: VNQ), holding an assortment of 138 residential, retail, office, storage and other REITs, has soared an outstanding 275 percent, compared to the broader market S&P 500’s 224 percent.”
• How Investors Should Vet Crowdfunding Deals Online by Bryan Hancock for Multi-Housing News.
Key excerpt:
“With the rise of equity crowdfunding portals post-Title II of The JOBS Act, accredited investors are now faced with an ever increasing variety of websites from which to select real estate projects to fund. The swelling number of high-profile crowdfunding portal types with varying business models has also made it difficult for even well-seasoned investors to understand who is making money and how.
Before making a decision, investors should examine the motivation of both the portal and its operators so it is clear what decision making process was used to present the projects for investment.”
• Housing Starts Rebound in U.S. as Inflation Eases: Economy by Lorraine Woellert and Victoria Stilwell of Bloomberg.
Key excerpt:
“A 15.7 percent jump took housing starts to a 1.09 million annualized rate, the strongest since November, and halted a two-month slide, the Commerce Department said in Washington. The consumer price index increased 0.1 percent after rising 0.3 percent in June, the Labor Department also reported.”
• Student REITs Post Strong Numbers by Les Shaver of Multifamily Executive.
Key excerpt:
“As student housing operators deal with the onslaught of students returning to class this month, company executives at Memphis-based EdR and Austin-based American Campus Communities (ACC) recently released their quarterly earnings.
The large takeaway for both was that fundamentals remain solid, with ACC reporting a 2.3 percent increase in same store NOI, and EdR reporting a 2.6 percent increase. And after both REITs cut back on acquisitions in the past year, they remain cautious about diving back in.”