And Here's the MBA's Take

Monday, July 6, 2009
And here's the MBA's take
David Stejkowski
The Dirt Lawyer's Blog

$8.9 billion in property sales in the first quarter. We knew from local results the number would be down. Its opinion? "While the pace of the economic slowdown appears to be easing, different aspects of commercial real estate and commercial real estate finance are feeling different levels and types of pressure."

Originations are down (no shock there), amd the CMBS market is dead (gee, imagine that!) but what I found interesting was that cap rates were, yes, up from 2007, but at 7.4% they are not as high as I might have thought. These are only reported deals, but it is an interesting sign that we may have a way to go or the prices might not drop as low as the vultures expect. Or, we could just be waiting for the shoe to drop on CRE foreclosures. Heck, I will leave it for the experts to figure it out. I'm just interested in the news.

Posted by David Stejkowski at 3:00 PM



Monday, July 6, 2009
Is the buy-sell disconnect connecting?
David Stejkowski
The Dirt Lawyer's Blog

That's what this article claims is happening, at least in Orange County. On top of loan money often not being there, the disconnect between buyers wanting to buy low and sellers wanting to sell high might be narrowing. Until that happens in many more markets, and money is there to lend instead of being spent on raising banker salaries then you'll see slow activity. Oh, and it goes without saying that a soft leasing market does not help either, and that won't improve for so long as unemployment keeps rising. I am starting to sound like Chicken Little again and I don't like that, so I'd better stop writing.

Posted by David Stejkowski


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