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:
Will Summer Travel Boost Lodging REITs?, By Susan Persin, Urban Land Institute
Key Excerpt:
“A robust pipeline of new hotel room deliveries is raising concerns about overbuilding. STR’s March 2016 Pipeline Report included 153,345 rooms in 1,201 projects under construction, an increase of 21.5 percent from year-ago levels. Almost half of the new construction is occurring in the 26 largest markets (by existing supply), including New York, Houston, Los Angeles/Long Beach, Dallas, and Miami.”
Colony Capital, NorthStar Asset Management and NorthStar Realty Finance Plan Three-way Merger, By Mark Heschmeyer, CoStar
Key Excerpt:
“Colony Capital Executive Chairman Thomas J. Barrack Jr. will be executive chairman of Colony NorthStar. David Hamamoto, executive chairman of NSAM and chairman of NRF, will become executive vice chairman, and Richard B. Saltzman, president and CEO of Colony Capital, will be chief executive following the merger. The companies expect $115 million in total annual cost savings from the merger, consisting of approximately $80 million of cash savings and approximately $35 million of stock based compensation savings, which would be realized post-closing.”
REITs Beat the Market in May, By Sarah Borchersen-Keto, REIT.com
Key Excerpt:
“With a few exceptions, ‘you really had a pretty solid sector-by-sector modest uptick for the month across the board,’ said Jeffrey Langbaum, senior REIT analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. He noted that REIT first quarter earnings were ‘fairly consistent’ overall.”
Investors Spend Over $40 Billion on U.S. Hotel Real Estate in 2015, By Michael Gerrity, World Property Journal
Key Excerpt:
“A total of 773 new openings were reported, a 36 percent increase from 2014. Those openings produced 85,000 new rooms, a 37 percent year-over-year increase. More than 900 hotel openings are expected in 2016 with more than 100,000 new rooms expected to hit the market.”
Economy Watch: No Hint of Rate Hike Later This Month, By Dees Stribling, Multi-Housing News
Key Excerpt:
“(Fed Chair Janet) Yellen didn’t seem to hint one way or the other, which is now taken to suggest that June is off the table for a rate hike, a circumstance that will keep the cost of money for CRE projects low. The central banker said: ‘[T]he overall labor market situation has been quite positive. In that context, this past Friday’s labor market report was disappointing.’”