Little stigma for commercial real estate owners who default on mortgages
BY ANDREW TANGEL
As tenants cut back on space in a sprawling warehouse in Wood-Ridge last year, the property's owner did what many strapped homeowners have done: stopped paying the mortgage.
By August, the 2.2-million-square-foot site — a former World War II bomber engine factory owned by New York real estate company Cammeby's International Inc. — was in foreclosure. The balance on the mortgage backed by the property: $42.5 million.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/little-stigma-commercial-real-estate-owners-who-default-mortgages
Commercial real estate problems lead to latest bank failures: Trepp
by JON PRIOR
Troubled commercial real estate loans brought down five of the six bank failures reported by the FDIC over the weekend, according Trepp, an analytics firm.
There were six bank closings over the weekend, totaling 126 for the year. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. estimated the six closings this week to cost the Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) a total of $347.6 million.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/commercial-real-estate-problems-lead-latest-bank-failures-trepp
L.A. real estate mogul indicted Federal grand jury accuses Ezri Namvar of wire fraud related to sheltering proceeds.
By Stuart Pfeifer and Robert Faturechi
Los Angeles real estate mogul Ezri Namvar, an Iranian immigrant who amassed and then lost billions of dollars of commercial real estate holdings, has been indicted on wire fraud charges, his attorney said.
Namvar, former owner of such high-profile properties as the Marriott hotel in downtown Los Angeles and the Cal Neva resort in Lake Tahoe, was accused of five counts of wire fraud related to a company, Namco Financial Exchange Corp., that sheltered proceeds from real estate transactions, said defense attorney Marc Harris.
Hedge Fund Crackdown May Snare European Real Estate Investors
By Chris Bourke
Europe’s commercial real estate owners, saddled with 1.9 trillion euros ($2.5 trillion) of debt, may be forced to make billions of euros in cash payments under planned laws that would treat them like hedge funds.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/hedge-fund-crackdown-may-snare-european-real-estate-investors
Office leasing in D-FW still in negative territory
By STEVE BROWN
The North Texas employment market has turned the corner this year, but companies are still holding back on office leasing.
Through the first nine months of 2010, net office leasing in the Dallas-Fort Worth area declined by about 700,000 square feet, according to preliminary numbers from Cushman & Wakefield of Texas.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/office-leasing-d-fw-still-negative-territory
Jobenomics- Commercial Real Estate Debt in the US
By Charles Mosley
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/jobenomics-commercial-real-estate-debt-us
Proposed changes to accounting rule rankle real estate community
By Danielle Douglas
Proposed changes to an accounting rule, requiring companies to place the expense of operating leases on their balance sheets, is raising alarm within the commercial real estate community. Opponents say the restructuring of Financial Accounting Standards 13, or FAS 13 as the rule is called, might upset debt ratios, making it harder for companies to secure loans. Supporters of the changes, however, say they will make financial statements more transparent.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/proposed-changes-accounting-rule-rankle-real-estate-community
Will The Commercial Real Estate Debt Cause Another Market Crisis?
If the residential real estate market is having problems, so is the commercial real estate market – perhaps even more so. Commercial real estate properties – like apartments, shopping malls, hotels, and office buildings – were at a peak until 2007 but devalued 36% in the last two years. The real estate market has incurred debts in the past years and may still incur more debts in the coming years.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/will-commercial-real-estate-debt-cause-another-market-crisis
Commercial Real Estate: Crawling Toward Recovery
If nothing else, people who care about commercial real estate in greater Phoenix can take cold comfort in this: the worst is probably over.
But Karl Guntermann, professor of real estate at the W. P. Carey School and author of the ASU-Repeat Sales Indices (ASU-RSI), cautions that renewed good times -- including lower vacancy rates and rising property prices -- are probably several years away. In commercial real estate, Phoenix isn't skipping toward another boom but rather crawling back to normalcy.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/commercial-real-estate-crawling-toward-recovery
US cities may have to be bulldozed in order to survive
Dozens of US cities may have entire neighborhoods bulldozed as part of drastic "shrink to survive" proposals being considered by the Obama administration to tackle economic decline.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/us-cities-may-have-be-bulldozed-order-survive
S&P: The Worst Not Over for U.S. Commercial Property Markets
Source: Standard & Poors
The slump in the U.S. commercial property market didn't quite plumb the depths of the downturn in residential real estate, but although there are signs that home prices are nearing the bottom, commercial real estate could fall further.
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/sp-worst-not-over-us-commercial-property-markets
Will real estate ever be a 'safe' investment again?
We'll never again see the sort of guaranteed high returns on real estate that defined the last 50 years, say experts. Time to retire the phrase "safe as houses"?
Read more: http://moreparks.org/content/will-real-estate-ever-be-safe-investment-again
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