Green Street: Commercial Property Values Up 30% Over 2009

It wasn’t more than two years ago that commercial real estate began a brutal downhill slide with no apparent end in sight, as investors and developers braced for an avalanche of mortgage defaults and foreclosures.

But, in another sign the dog days maybe coming to an end, property values have risen nearly 30% since the industry lows in 2009, according to an index by Green Street Advisors, a firm based in Newport Beach, Calif., specializing in research of real estate investment trusts.

According to the Green Street Advisors Commercial Property Price Index, almost half of the decline that occurred from the brutal industry downturn between 2007 and 2009 has evaporated, but values remain roughly 20% shy of their peak. Meanwhile, the index, comprised of $300 billion worth of commercial properties and assets owned by 53 REITs, rose 3% in September.

Expectations that commercial property values are on the mend and will see a robust recovery next year have fueled sharp gains in real estate stocks that have consistently beat the broader stock indexes like the Dow Jones Industrial Average and S&P 500 since last year.

“The rebound in pricing that began in earnest about a year ago has been impressive in terms of both its vigor and durability. Sellers are feeling less pressure to act, the outlook for fundamentals has improved, well-capitalized buyers are plentiful, and financing markets are recovering,” said Mike Kirby, Green Street’s Director of Research.

International buyers see deals in Florida real estate

Well, at least Florida's struggling real estate market has been good for some.

Apparently, plummeting values combined with a weak U.S. dollar is making Sunshine State real estate a little more desirable for international buyers, according to a survey from the Florida Realtors.

Two out of every three Realtors in the state had at least one international transaction within the past year, and that's helped offset declines in home sales.

The National Association of Realtors and the Florida Realtors recently conducted a survey of Florida agents. A total of 936 responses were received about their experiences with International buyers.

Here are some of the highlights:

•Sixty-five percent said they worked with an international client in the past 12 months. One in five worked with two international clients, and 18 percent working with three or more.

•Half of the respondents said international clients accounted for 25 percent or less of their business; 15 percent said international homebuyers accounted for more than half of their business.

•One in three said that international clients were an increasing share of their customers in the past two years, while just under half noted that their share of international clients stayed about the same.

•Canada had the largest share of buyers, accounting for 36 percent of recent sales. Buyers from the United Kingdom accounted for 15 percent, and the rest of Western Europe accounted for an additional 14 percent.

Latin America, defined for the report as Mexico, the Caribbean, Central America and South America, accounted for 16 percent. Specific countries with a small but significant share of sales included Germany (5 percent), Venezuela (3 percent), Brazil (3 percent) and France (3 percent).

Dean Graziosi Creates New Breed of Real Estate Entrepreneurs

The collapse of the real estate market is creating a new way of thinking for real estate entrepreneurs across the United States. The money is no longer going to "real estate investors." It's going to a new breed of entrepreneurs called- "real estate marketers."

Many entrepreneurs are learning this new investment strategy from books written by real estate investor, Dean Graziosi, or from "Dean's Real Estate Success Academy." The new class of entrepreneurs are practicing a simple approach in an industry that was once extremely complex.

The latest property statistics show that roughly 30 percent of all real estate sales involve cash deals. Many of these new real estate investors are professionals, like dentists, lawyers and working mothers who no longer want to invest in the stock market. "Real Estate Marketers" are helping these cash buyers find the best properties at the best prices in cities across America, and profiting along the way.

Carol Stinson enrolled in "Dean's Real Estate Success Academy" two years ago after her husband's business began failing. At the time, her family was close to losing their home to foreclosure. Since then, Carol has rehabbed two properties and closed on 22 deals. She's expected to close on four properties in October 2010, earning more than $100,000 in only two years.

Teachers Retirement System of Texas Joins USAA Real Estate Co. in the US Government Building Fund, LLC

USAA Real Estate Company is pleased to announce the closing of Teachers Retirement System of Texas ("TRST") into the US Government Building Fund, LLC. This commitment together with USAA and other investments by large foreign and domestic pension plans and insurance companies now brings the total equity commitments for the Fund to $546 million.

US Government Building Fund, LLC has begun to assemble a geographically diverse portfolio of properties and provides attractive, risk-adjusted returns generated by the acquisition and operation of buildings leased to federal and state governments. The Fund continues to target Class A core assets across the U.S. with the total size of the Fund expected to exceed $1 Billion.

"We are very pleased to have TRST as a co-investment partner. Together with TRST and our other partners, we have pooled our resources to generate a very large and significant portfolio which we feel provides excellent risk adjusted returns," states Pat Duncan, Chairman and CEO of real estate operations and investments for USAA Real Estate Company. "This commitment by TRST marks the second investment with USAA in the past few years and we look forward to more opportunities in the future."

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust Tops $31.72: Enters New Trading Range (WRE)

Washington Real Estate Investment Trust traded in a range yesterday that spanned from a low of $31.66 to a high of $32.19. Yesterday's high of the day pierced the 3-day high of $31.72 on volume of 381,000 shares.
Shares of Washington Real Estate Investment Trust have been range bound for the past 3-days between a high of $31.72 and a low of $30.39 and have traded with a 30-day average daily volume of 496,000 shares.
Look for shares of WRE to trade within a new higher trading range with support at $31.72 and move along with its peers in the REIT- Diversified SmarTrend industry.
SmarTrend is bullish on shares of Washington Real Estate Investment Trust and our subscribers were alerted to Buy on July 26, 2010 at $30.16. The stock has risen 6% since the alert was issued.

Tiger Woods Buys Real Estate in Jupiter Island, Florida with help from $54 Million Mortgage

Pro Golfer Tiger Woods, has been rumored to be looking at real estate in New York City and parts of Florida since his divorce settlement with Swedish Supermodel Elin Nordegren was resolved on August 22nd.

It looks as though the new bachelor has found the ultimate bachelor’s pad in Jupiter Island, which is a town in Southeast Florida. The new piece of real estate that Tiger has purchased, will partially be paid for with a $54 million mortgage that he filed for on August 27th. Tiger plans on paying off the mortgage by 2016 according to reports.

Jupiter Island, Florida is a very small town with a population under 800. It is on a barrier island, and is known as a place where a lot of wealthy people reside. The per capita income is the 2nd highest out of any other place in the United States.

Also living in Jupiter Island are fellow golfers Nick Price and Gary Player. They are joined by other notable names such as Celine Dion, Nelson Doubleday, Alan Jackson, and Burt Reynolds. Whether Tiger will make this his main home, or just a seasonal place to stay is not known.

Reuters speaks profitable Real Estate at rest soreness Banks

In an account from Reuters, profitable real estate may yet lastly hurt banks lending, chiefly small, collection of populace banks where lending has been mostly physically powerful this year.

Even though the mega banks, such as Citigroup and Bank of America aren't lending, small domestic banks have enjoyed expansion in their finance portfolios. They now make up about 40 percent of U.S. saleable and industrial loans, more than at any point in the past twenty five years.

Since many suppose that more marketable real estate losses are to come, solutions to the problem are currently being batted around in Washington to help relieve this issue. One solution would see the creation of a European style covered bond market to loosen up real estate lending. The other answer is to warranty the loans, guaranteeing $25 billion in new loans.

Not all of the news neighboring the CRE market is bad. Apartment vacancies are dropping, and rents are stabilizing and in many cases on the rise. Sales of large marketable properties rose to $9.7 billion in June, the highest level seen in nearly two years, according to Real Capital Analytics.