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.
• ULI Survey: Mixed-Use Communities a Growing Preference by Linsey Isaacs of Multifamily Executive.
Key excerpt:
“The survey gave a closer look into renter values and demographics, forecasting how the industry will adapt to serve the 62 percent of renters who said they anticipated moving again in the next five years.
The Gen Y and African-American demographics were the highest in terms of renters who were most likely to move in the next five years, each with 63 percent. Overall, about 62 percent of all Americans planning to move in the next five years would prefer to go to a mixed-use community.
In terms of important community characteristics, both renters and homeowners chose neighborhood safety and the quality of public schools as the top two most-desired attributes. But where homeowners tapped ‘space between neighbors’ as their No. 3 concern, renters chose walkability as the third most important attribute.”
• Top 7 Markets for Medical Office Space by Elaine Misonzhnik of National Real Estate Investor.
Key excerpt:
“In the next few years, as the Affordable Care Act (ACA) gets implemented and more and more boomers reach retirement age, medical office buildings should experience increased demand. Looking ahead, we tried to compile a list of the best markets for investment in the medical office sector, using reports from Marcus & Millichap, CBRE, Cushman & Wakefield and Real Capital Analytics. Our rankings were based on a number of metrics, including average vacancy rates for medical office properties, rents per square foot, building sales volumes, prices per square foot and volume of recent space completions.”
• Walmart Accelerates Small Store Growth by Mark Heschmeyer of CoStar.
Key excerpt:
“The company is expanding its original capital forecast provided last October, and now expects to add approximately 270 to 300 small stores [in the United States] during the fiscal year, doubling its initial forecast of 120 to 150 stores.
Walmart U.S. will also continue its plan to open approximately 115 new supercenters this year.”
• Strength in Real Estate Stocks May Signal Mergers/Acquisition Spike by Al Barbarino of Commercial Observer.
Key excerpts:
“The bumpy start to the S&P 500 index so far this year is no match for the gains seen among two of commercial real estate’s largest firms, and a report in the Wall Street Journal argues that investors’ faith in continued prosperity could signal an active year for mergers, acquisitions and expansions in the industry.
While the S&P is down about 0.7 percent since Jan. 1, CBRE’s shares are up 4.3% and Jones Lang LaSalle’s [are] up 18.3%; with both stocks, listed on the New York Stock Exchange, trading near their 52-week highs, while Jones Lang LaSalle is close to setting a record.”
• Midsize Banks Help Fill New York's Office-Market Void by Eliot Brown of the Wall Street Journal.
Key excerpts:
“Midsize financial firms — those leasing between 20,000 square feet and 100,000 square feet — have added nearly 1 million square feet of space in Manhattan since January 2013, according to real-estate-services firm CBRE Group Inc. During that same time, total space stayed flat for financial firms leasing more than 100,000 square feet.
More than 70% of leases signed by midsize financial firms were for expansion, according to CBRE. Some of the expanding firms are run by former big-bank executives or are businesses that had been owned by financial-services giants.”