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.
• On a Roll, U.S. Office Market Demand Expected to Stay Strong Through 2016 by Randyl Drummer of CoStar.com.
Key excerpt:
“The strong demand suggests that occupiers have gradually slowed the trend of shrinking square foot-per-employee office footprints, and the shadow supply of empty office space left over from the Great Recession is diminishing as growth moves forward at a very strong clip, added [Walter] Page, who was joined in the presentation by U.S. Market Research Manager Aaron Jodka and Managing Director Hans Nordby.”
• The Shakeout between Winners and Losers in Retail Real Estate Will Continue by Susan Piperato of National Real Estate Investor.
Key excerpt:
“One of my favorite things to say is that if you look at development going forward in terms of density or dynamite, there are whole centers that are probably going to end up being losers and get repurposed—it could be anything from residential or mixed-use town centers that get redeveloped to strip shopping centers that never really took off. One of the things that the owners will then be focused on is redevelopment. Everybody is trying to make the most of the assets they have that are winners.”
• Economy Watch: Real M-F Fixed Investment Grows by Dees Stribling of Commercial Property Executive.
Key excerpt:
“On Friday the Bureau of Economic Analysis reported, in its preliminary report on U.S. economic growth in the fourth quarter of 2014, that real GDP was up an annualized 2.6 percent. That seems sluggish compared to the robust rate of 5 percent in the third quarter, and the number did inspire some hand-wringing about the sustainability of the recovery. Was the third quarter a fluke? Or is the rest of the world, which isn’t growing so fast these days, starting to drag the United States down? Or is it the impact of the stronger dollar? All of these ideas have been floated.”
• Fundamentally Speaking: Multifamily Market Still Strong for REITs by Sarah Borchersen-Keto of REIT.com.
Key excerpt:
“Concerns about new multifamily supply and a possible shift to home buying have not materialized, [Calvin] Schnure noted.‘We’re not seeing that at all,’ Schnure said. He pointed out that rental occupancy surged in the fourth quarter. Over the past four quarters the increase in rental occupancy was about 2 million units, Schnure noted, versus a long-term average of about 300,000.”
• U.S. Commercial Mortgage Debt to Hit $2.7 Trillion in 2015 by Michael Gerrity of World Property Journal.
Key excerpt:
“According to the Mortgage Bankers Association, originations of commercial and multifamily mortgages in the U.S. will grow to $414 billion in 2015, an increase of 7 percent from 2014 volumes, and continue to rise to $430 billion in 2016. Multifamily mortgages originated by mortgage bankers are forecast to be $152 billion in 2015.”