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.
• Student Housing REITs Horde Cash to Buy by Bendix Anderson of National Real Estate Investor.
Key Excerpt:
“Student housing real estate investment trusts (REITs) are likely to start buying properties soon—as soon as more properties become available. “You’re going to see acquisitions heat up for REITs over the next two years,” says Scott D. Lamontagne, managing director for JLL’s multifamily capital markets group.”
• Rising Rental Demand Buoys Multifamily Fundamentals by Calvin Schnure of REIT.
Key Excerpt:
“The demand for rental housing shows no signs of letting up. Data through mid-year show that the rental market continues to tighten despite increasing new supply, as the national rental vacancy rate fell to 6.8 percent, the first time it has been below 7 percent since 1985.”
• Ways to Retain Residents with New Technology by Tim Blackwell of Property Management Insider.
Key Excerpt:
“Room temperature, door locks, irrigation and security systems that can be controlled by smartphones, plus water-saving devices, are some simple, readily accessible technologies that properties can leverage to help maintain residents and catch the attention of prospects. Scott Matthews, Director of Strategic Accounts for Atlanta-based Home Depot says new technology that enables residents and the property complete control from the palms of their hands is making a difference in the apartment industry.”
• Sizzling Service Demand Points to Stronger U.S. Economic Development by Sho Chandra of Bloomberg.
Key Excerpt:
“America’s service providers from retailers to real estate agencies sizzled in July. The industries that make up almost 90 percent of the economy expanded at the fastest pace in a decade, the Institute for Supply Management said Wednesday. The broad-based pickup was accompanied by a flurry of orders, prodding more companies to beef up staffing levels.”
• Global Brokerage Shops Report Ramped-Up Leasing Activity as Market Cycle Matures by Randyl Drummer of CoStar.
Key Excerpt:
"Benefitting enormously from the strong capital flows into real estate and an uptick in leasing activity, CRE brokers and other service providers are enjoying plenty of fee-based revenue, with global giants CBRE Group, Inc., JLL and Colliers International all reporting double-digit profit increases and solid revenue gains in the second quarter of 2015."