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.
• Office Fundamentals Moving in Positive Direction by Sarah Borchersen-Keto of REIT.com.
Key excerpt:
“According to commercial real estate services provider Cassidy Turley, vacancy rates in the fourth quarter fell 20 basis points to 15.1 percent, compared with a recessionary peak of 17.3 percent. Kevin Thorpe, chief economist at Cassidy Turley, noted that ‘office vacancy is clearly tightening, but at a rate that is much slower than past recoveries.’
‘Steady job growth and lack of new development has vacancy falling in 70 percent of the country, but the office sector is still adjusting to the new era of tenant downsizing and space efficiency,’ he said.”
• Open Spaces and Active Transportation by Elizabeth Shreeve of Urban Land Magazine.
Key excerpt:
“The American Journal of Preventive Medicine similarly reports that people who live in neighborhoods with trails, greenways, and parks are twice as healthy as those who live in neighborhoods without such facilities. And according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, people living in walkable neighborhoods get about 35 to 45 more minutes of moderate-intensity physical activity per week and are substantially less likely to be overweight or obese than people of similar socioeconomic status living in neighborhoods that are not walkable.”
• More Investors Expected to Check Into U.S. Hotel Properties in 2014 by Randyl Drummer.
Key excerpt:
“Arthur Adler, Americas CEO and managing director of Jones Lang LaSalle’s Hotels and Hospitality Group, said the CRE services firm’s bullish forecast is based on several key drivers of transaction volume, such as the availability and cost of equity and debt capital, hotel operating fundamentals, and hotel REIT share pricing. Adler said those factors are expected to skew hotel investment activity toward a market environment for more hotel trading rather than long-term holding of assets.”
• MBA CREF/Multifamily Report: Fannie and Freddie Maintain Financing Levels in 2013 by Multi-Housing News.
Key excerpt:
“While GSE origination volumes declined during the summer months, we expect that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac maintained close to their 2012 market share of 40 percent in 2013, offering attractive products with as much as 80 percent leverage, but as the economy strengthens, capital is readily available from alternative sources: a trend that is expected to continue in 2014.”
• Cushman & Wakefield: U.S. Industrial Sector Performance Strongest Since 2005 by REJournals.com.
Key excerpt:
“In its strongest performance since 2005, the U.S. industrial real estate market saw 328.5 million square feet in leasing activity and 117.2 million square feet of positive absorption in 2013, according to Cushman & Wakefield. The commercial real estate service firm recently released its year-end national market research data, which also shows declining vacancies, along with rising rental rates and construction levels.”