Author: Richard Gatto

CMBS was a $230 billion industry prior to the recession. Today, we live in an era of lowered expectations where every victory needs celebrating as we get back into gear. Take Chicago, where lenders originated and sold off $2.48 billion in loans on Chicago-area properties last year, more than double the $1.20 billion in 2012, according […]

Despite rating agencies like the S&P cutting the US credit rating from AAA to AA+, the country’s economy is outpacing the 12 nations that currently have the highest rating. Take a look at the indicators – the dollar is at its strongest since 2008, its GDP is growing faster than developed countries, and its deficit […]

Economists tell us that the reason the US is doing better than Europe is because of two things: our equity markets and our housing sector.  And now comes the news that housing is posting its best home prices since 2006.  The widely followed Case-Shiller indexes showed the home prices of single-family homes across 20 of […]

For those who have stressed the need for austerity and deficit reduction, who think that fiscal cliffs and sequestration are a good corrective to reckless spending, it may be helpful to consider what the IMF is saying. Lowering the outlook for U.S. growth to 1.9% from 2%, IMF Economic Counselor Olivier Blanchard called the U.S. […]

For those who have stressed the need for austerity and deficit reduction, who think that fiscal cliffs and sequestration are a good corrective to reckless spending, it may be helpful to consider what the IMF is saying. Lowering the outlook for U.S. growth to 1.9% from 2%, IMF Economic Counselor Olivier Blanchard called the U.S. […]

There is no doubt that America needs to get its economic mojo back: in the 2nd quarter its GDP grew at an annualized rate of 1.7 percent, according to revised figures published on August 29th.  That growth number is down from two percent in the 1st quarter and 4.1 percent in late 2011. But, anyone […]

The French soothsayer, Michel de Nostredame or Nostradamus, became something of a celebrity starting in the 1550s because of his prophecies in all he made 6,338 predictions in a series of almanacs — everything from plagues to invasions to the end of the world. People still raise his name today when they speak about impending […]

Amidst all the depressing economic news of late, it’s like a breath of spring when a related news article elicits a hearty laugh. The rage of this week’s 2009 Toy Fair at New York City’s Jacob Javits Convention Center was the Smash-Me Bernie doll, a $99.95 devil-suited, pitchfork-wielding effigy of legendary swindler Bernard Madoff.  The […]

Marketing green is a new step in the emergence of sustainability.  In a tight credit environment when rates have climbed and LTVs have dropped, green may offer a way to ease the underwriting criteria on a deal. The green-building revolution is spreading, and the underwriting community has embraced sustainable design because it enhances marketability and […]

Contrary to the recent grim news about home foreclosures, bank failures, the credit crunch, rising unemployment rates, soaring oil prices, inflation and stock-market jitters, the United States’ economy — surprisingly — grew by 3.3 percent during the second quarter of 2008. The economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly a year, thanks primarily to […]