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:
$1.7 trillion earmarked for CRE sector for 2017, By Orest Mandzy, Urban Land Institute
Key Excerpt:
“This year, CBRE found that investors have earmarked $1.7 trillion for global commercial real estate. Though not all of that will be deployed, it shows that the sector will have another year with healthy liquidity. In addition to allocating capital to properties and mortgages, investors have altered their expectations and preferences.”
Fed official says hot U.S. real estate is potential red flag, Multifamily Executive
Key Excerpt:
“Reuters’ Jonathan Spicer reports that Eric Rosengren, president of the Boston Fed, is urging regulators globally to consider tools beyond interest rates that could help cool the sector. Rosengren says the “sharp” rise in apartment prices, in particular, may signal financial instabilities that interest rates, which are only gradually rising, may be unable to contain.”
Student housing developers struggle to provide the right amenities in tight spaces, By Bendix Anderson, NREIOnline.com
Key Excerpt:
“Student housing communities are competing to provide the flashiest amenities to attract residents even though they are now being built on tiny urban sites where space is at a premium. ‘It’s kind of an amenity war,’ says Greg Faulkner, president of Dallas-based Humphreys & Partners Architects.”
The U.S. medical office market could be heading for a bubble, By Jarred Schenke, Bisnow
Key Excerpt:
“Right now, the healthcare market has been riding a wave of growth buoyed not only by the Affordable Care Act adding people to the ranks of the medically insured, but also an aging Baby Boomer population, a group entering its senior years in record numbers and causing demand for healthcare to rise.”
Starwood ups initial bid for Milestone Apartments REIT buyout, By Randyl Drummer, Costar
Key Excerpt:
“Under the revised bid announced in a joint release by the two companies, Milestone Apartments REIT unitholders will receive 10 cents more per trust unit than Starwood’s original cash-for-stock offer valuing Milestone at $2.85 billion, including debt, that was announced on Jan. 19. The new $16.25 per trust-unit bid constitutes a 0.6% increase from the original offer of $16.15.”