Articles About Economics

Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
06.29.2009

CMBS Maturities Face Eventual Day of Reckoning

Moody’s reiterated its February analysis of CMBS loans,  noting that the majority of 2006 – 2008 ratings of conduit/fusion and large-loan deals are still stable.  The ratings agency warns that the assumptions hold up “as long as conditions in the commercial real estate market and the general economy do not weaken.” Since February, “property prices […]

Read More ›
Author:
Sam Gould
Posted:
06.26.2009

FDIC Walking Away from Leases of Failed Banks

Troubled Los Angeles-based office REIT Maguire Properties is facing default and currently is in discussions with a special servicer to resolve its financial woes.  The goal is to have the special servicer take over Maguire’s $106 million CMBS financing covering the Quintana office campus it owns in Orange County, CA.  The campus’s major tenant was […]

Read More ›
Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
06.25.2009

Investment Banking in an Economic Meltdown

Investment banks are hunkering down to preserve capital, primarily because there are grave concerns about current property valuations, says Charles Krawitz, Senior Loan Sales Asset Manager, Fifth Third Bank, in an interview for The Alter Group podcasts on real estate.  Banks are reluctant to lend $10 million to a property that might be worth only […]

Read More ›
Author:
Matt Ward
Posted:
06.24.2009

Have We Hit Bottom Yet?

Slowly advancing first-quarter sales may not make this the right time to pop the champagne corks-though it does represent a plateau compared with the previous quarter and suggests that the bottom may be in sight.  This update comes from Real Capital Analytics (RCA), which warns that “there is no recovery in sight”. In its June […]

Read More ›
Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
06.15.2009

Local Banks Facing Significant CRE Losses

Toxic commercial real estate loans could create losses up to $100 billion for small and mid-size banks by the end of 2010 if the economy worsens.  According to a Wall Street Journal report – which applied the same criteria used by the federal government in its stress tests of 19 big banks — these institutions […]

Read More ›
Author:
Russ Posey
Posted:
06.10.2009

Florida Legislature Hands Developers a Victory

Florida’s commercial real estate development community won big time in the Florida Legislature’s 2009 session with passage of the Community Renewal Act.  The legislation limits local governments’ ability to collect impact fees from developers, a step that is certain to encourage new commercial development in the Sunshine State. NAIOP Florida strongly supported the bill, which […]

Read More ›
Author:
Sam Gould
Posted:
06.09.2009

Bank of America Slaps Foreclosure Notice on Waterview Tower

Bank of America has pulled the plug on Chicago’s high-profile Waterview Tower with its filing of a foreclosure lawsuit against the 90-story condominium and hotel tower overlooking the Chicago River.  The bank has sued to collect $20 million from the developer, an affiliate of Chicago-based Teng & Associates, which stopped construction last year. The building’s […]

Read More ›
Author:
James I. Clark III
Posted:
06.03.2009

Back to the Futures? Not Just Yet. Investors Still Spooked by Derivatives

It’s no surprise that investors are still wary of investing in derivatives, given the financial devastation that these vehicles’ collapse caused last year.  Proof of the fact is that the IPO of a financial instrument designed to be on American home prices failed because its auction did not generate adequate investor interest. According to its […]

Read More ›
Author:
Kurt Rosene
Posted:
06.01.2009

Las Vegas Underwater

Las Vegas may be in the middle of a desert, but right now it’s underwater.  Fully two-thirds of the once fast-growing city’s housing stock is underwater,  meaning that the owners owe more on their mortgages than the home is worth. According to www.zillow.com, borrowers who are underwater totaled 20.4 million at the end of the […]

Read More ›
Author:
Tom Silva
Posted:
05.28.2009

Modern Wing of the Art Institute of Chicago a “Temple of Light”

Amidst the most dire financial crisis in a generation, Chicago has created a magnificent rejoinder to all the bad news.  The Russian writer Dostoevsky once said that “Beauty will save the world.”  Seeing Renzo Piano’s new Modern Wing at the Art Institute of Chicago makes you believe that it just might.  First of all, how […]

Read More ›

Categories

Archives