After Leading CMBS Out of Recession, Retail Loans Slower To Refinance

For all of their success in leading a resurgence of CMBS financing following the Great Recession, retail properties face a tougher rode ahead in the short term.

Approximately $50 billion of retail-backed CMBS loans are scheduled to mature through 2016. Collateral backed by retail properties accounts for the largest portion of that, its also accounts for the largest proportion of loans defaulting at their 2015 maturities, according to Fitch Ratings.

For loans with original maturities in 2015, retail comprises the majority of the currently delinquent loans ($555.2 million) followed by office ($469 million). Other property types have far lower levels of deliquent loans, including hotel ($162.9 million), mixed use ($161.9 million), multifamily ($44.6 million), industrial ($12.4 million), and self-storage ($6.5 million).

Read the entire article at www.Costar.com.

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Multifamily Lending Starting to Level Off

Lenders will keep pouring money into apartment properties over the next two years, originating about the same volume of loans in 2016 and 2017—with slight increases—that they are likely to close in 2015, according to the latest Commercial/Multifamily Real Estate Finance Forecast from the Mortgage Bankers Association (MBA), an industry trade group.

“The forecast anticipates continued strength and growth,” says Jamie Woodwell, vice president for the research and economics group at MBA.

That’s still going to be a big change from the last few years, when business of lending on multifamily real estate didn’t just grow a little, but instead grew incredibly quickly. So far in 2015, lenders have increased the volume of apartment loans they made by well over 10 percent compared to the year before. In 2016, experts expect more moderate growth, with less frenetic competition to make deals.

Outsized growth

Lenders will likely originate a total of $224 billion in permanent loans to multifamily properties in 2015, according to MBA. That’s a 15 percent increase from the $195 billion they lent in 2014, which in turn marked a 13 percent increase from $173 billion in multifamily originations in 2013. That year marked an 18 percent increase in originations from 2012.

Lending volume can’t grow like that forever. The growth this year already caught most experts by surprise.

Read entire post in National Real Estate Investor here.

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Private Equity Funds Are Sitting on $244B for Commercial Real Estate

Private Equity Funds Are Sitting on $244B for Commercial Real Estate
Private equity firms are loving them some commercial real estate as funds ended Q3 with $244B of dry powder ready for investments in the industry, Preqin data says. Additionally, private institutional investors are still raising money to bankroll investments in core product in core market—i.e. pricier assets—with 52% of funds focused on North America. “The easy money has clearly been made and pricing is very aggressive,” Vornado CEO Steven Roth says. Vornado holds $555M in property investments and is now focusing on building up its cash reserves from $1B to $2B by the end of the year. Among other funds to keep an eye on, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VIII closed last quarter after raising $15.8B, making it the largest commercial real estate PE fund ever. [CoStar]

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/national/news/commercial-real-estate/private-equity-funds-end-q3-with-244b-for-cre-52017?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser

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Sustainability: The New Norm in Real Estate Development and Investing

Time was when the idea of sustainability in real estate development and investing was a pretty soft notion. Sure, everyone liked the “idea” of reducing carbon emissions, protecting the environment and exploring alternative energy sources, but few were willing to spend money on it. Today, things are vastly different, and it’s the bottom line that’s talking.

A number of factors have driven real estate sustainability into the mainstream, but the greatest influence, whether in the initial design phase or via retrofit, are tenant expectations.

According to McGraw-Hill Construction’s report, “World Green Building Trends—Business Benefits Driving New and Retrofit Market Opportunities in Over 60 Countries,” client demand (35 percent) and market demand (33 percent) were the top two reasons the global green building market grew to $260 billion in 2013, including an estimated 20 percent of all new U.S. commercial real estate projects.

For a commercial building to be able to proclaim sustainability and eco-friendliness is one of its best marketing tools. LEED certification has become a de facto standard for many U.S. cities and class-A buildings. The U.S. Green Building Council-issued LEED certification is awarded to new and renovated office buildings, interiors and operations based on how they’ve adopted best practices in energy, lighting, air quality, water usage and more.

Similarly, the sustainability metrics detailed by GRESB—Global Real Estate Sustainability Benchmark—are increasingly proclaimed by properties.

Government offices for the most part must have LEED certification or other demonstrations of green compliance, according to the U.S. General Services Administration. In other commercial spaces, many tenants simply won’t lease class-A space that’s not LEED-certified.

View entire article here in National Real Estate Investor.

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Multifamily REITs Cash In

Leading multifamily REITs are selling off properties—starting with the largest apartment REIT Equity Residential, which announced plans to sell off nearly a quarter of its apartment portfolio on Oct. 26.

“This is an extremely opportune time for Equity Residential to monetize our investments in this portfolio of assets,” said David J. Neithercut, president and CEO of Equity Residential.

REITs usually need to keep growing to help keep their stock prices rising. But leading apartment REITs have become net sellers this year, starting with Equity. The huge deal will dispose of nearly a quarter of Equity’s portfolio of more than 109,000 apartments. In addition, Equity is not planning to spend the cash from the sale on buying other apartments or developing new properties. Instead, the REIT plans to pay down its debt and return a large dividend to its shareholders.

Equity plans to sell more than 23,000 apartments at 72 properties to Starwood Capital Group, through a controlled affiliate, for $5.365 billion. About half of these properties are located in Florida, with other communities in Denver and California’s Inland Empire, in addition to core markets including Washington D.C. and Seattle. Going forward, Equity also plans to sell an additional 26 properties totaling 4,728 apartment units, one at a time or in small portfolios, including all of the company’s assets in Connecticut and in non-core sub-markets of Massachusetts. The sale to Starwood, combined with these other sales, will result in the company’s exit from the South Florida and Denver markets, as well as the New England sub-markets.

“We have also narrowed our focus, which will now be entirely directed towards our core, high-density urban markets,” says Neithercut.

Read entire article in National Real Estate Investor

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Why Investors Like Carlyle Are Bullish on Trailer Parks

Why Investors Like Carlyle Are Bullish on Trailer Parks
As investor demand for mobile home parks heats up, especially in areas with high housing demand fueled by tech company growth, Carlyle Group has made its second West Coast buy in the past two months. The equity giant closed on Sunnyvale’s Plaza Del Rey mobile home park last week. Carlyle is reported to have spent around $180M to purchase the 85-acre Plaza Del Rey, which is south of Tasman Drive and west of Lawrence Expressway. The company is among investors grabbing up mobile home rental communities across the nation. Carlyle purchased a majority interest in Pacific Skies Estates in Pacifica last month.

Read more at: https://www.bisnow.com/silicon-valley/news/neighborhood/carlyle-group-buys-second-bay-area-mobile-park-51626?utm_source=CopyShare&utm_medium=Browser

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