Feb 23, 2010 - CRE News

Fundamentals for small-capitalization properties have continued to deteriorate, according to Boxwood Means Inc., with key metrics such as rents and tenant demand weakening last month.

National rents were down across the board in January when compared to a year ago. The declines range from 3.34% to $18.94/sf for medical-office buildings, to 8.23% to $7.17/sf for industrial properties. Office properties in general saw a 4.04% decline in rents to $17.57/sf, while retail properties have seen a 6.31% drop to $17.55/sf.

When compared to a month earlier, rent declines ranged from 0.2% for medical offices to 0.74% for industrial.

Boxwood Means is a Stamford, CT, research firm that focuses on small-cap properties, which it defines as those with less than 50,000 square feet. It compiles property-level operating and sales data through a partnership with LoopNet Inc.

It also compiles Days on Market, a calculation of how long it takes to rent vacant space that it uses as a gauge for tenant demand. It said the metric is at its highest level in nine months, meaning space is languishing on the market.

Despite the bad news in the data, Boxwood Means noted that declines in rents and demand are no longer as steep as they were in previous months. But it cautioned that fundamentals would continue to weaken until the national jobs picture improved and consumer confidence rose. Today, the Conference Board reported that consumer confidence had fallen sharply this month.

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Washington Post February 19, 2010: Unlike residential mortgages, which often can be paid over 30 years, commercial real estate mortgages typically must be paid off or refinanced within five years. Commercial properties mortgaged in 2005, 2006 and 2007, at the height of the boom, are reaching their maturity date. "Do the math on this," Warren said. "This is a significant problem."

Nationwide, at least $1.4 trillion in commercial real estate debt is expected to roll over during the next three years. Warren said that half of commercial real estate mortgages will be underwater by the beginning of 2011. A fifth of residential mortgages are underwater now, she said.

Unlike residential mortgages, which often can be paid over 30 years, commercial real estate mortgages typically must be paid off or refinanced within five years. Commercial properties mortgaged in 2005, 2006 and 2007, at the height of the boom, are reaching their maturity date. "Do the math on this," Warren said. "This is a significant problem."

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The outlook for jobs became a bit less bleak with January's unexpected decline in the unemployment rate, which fell to 9.7 percent from 10 percent as more people said they had jobs.

Still, Friday's unemployment report showed just how deep the job crisis remains. The government now estimates 8.4 million jobs vanished in the Great Recession, and economists think the nation would be lucky to get back 1.5 million of them this year. And they say it will take at least three to four years for the job market to return to anything like normal. <End>

Not particurally good news for the office market. Employment is directly related to occupancy. If the econimists are correct, it means office space occupancy will take three to four years to return to normal vacancy rates in the 8% - 12% range.

Sales of office, retail, multifamily and industrial properties asre expected exceed $100 billion in 2010; more than double the $45 billion projected for all of 2009, according to Real Capital Analytics. "We have hit bottom and are starting the new decade on the upswing," the New York research firm said. The projected increase would be the first year-over-year gain since 2007.

Real Capital noted that credit markets have shown signs of thawing, which could help facilitate sales in 2010. It added that capital raising by investors has been stron in 2009, led by REITs, which raised $28.3 billion this year, including $17.2 billion of equity from 59 stock offerings.

Source: Loopnet

From Cushman and Wakefiled's Knowledge Center

"THE AMERICAS: LOOKING UP

Things are looking up for a recovery and job growth in 2010 that will benefit North American real estate markets. Meanwhile, South American countries such as Brazil will continue to heat up.

National real estate markets are likely to remain weak particularly early in the year due to uncertainty about the strength of the recovery. This will benefit tenants seeking to secure moderately priced space.

But as recovery takes hold, markets will reach a bottom and begin to improve. The key will be employment growth which, because of the depth of the downturn, may turn out to be stronger than is generally anticipated."

What struck me in this quick overview is that the bottom is a ways away. With last weeks jump in newly laid-off workers filing claims for unemployment benefits, the recovery may be further away than we hope. Unemployment is directly linked with office vacancy. Businesses must add employees to take on additional office space. I believe that there is still a lot of underutilized office space that companies have leases on, but are not using that will have to be filled before we see any reduction in the office vacancy rate. A recovery in 2010 would be great, but I believe the Office Space market will not start it's recovery until 2011.

I am off next week. Happy Holiday to all.