Sam Zell - Commercial Real Estate Coming Back
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Sam Zell, billionaire and commercial real estate maven, is predicting that commercial real estate is coming back, albeit slowly as the credit market is loosening up. The city center is the strongest market and there is great risk in the “ex-urban, the glass-block commodity office building” sector.
Overall though Zell seems very bullish on the market and with his track record I would pay attention.
“I believe the overall market has already started to ease,’ Zell, chairman of Equity Residential, the largest U.S. apartment owner, said in an interview in New York. “Is it in large volumes? No. Is it the first natural step in the evolution? Yes.’
For the first time since July, when credit markets froze in reaction to rising home-loan defaults, investors are starting to move their money from Treasury bonds, whose returns are below the inflation rate, and into commercial mortgage-backed securities. Insurance companies and pension funds need to earn at least 6 percent to cover their liabilities, Zell said. Bloomberg.com


Comment by Colleen Sheridan on 2 May 2008:
Commercial real estate is more stable than residential because largely, there has been little new construction in the past decade. What buildings were added were “built-to-suit”. In spite of that, vacancy rates continue to be steady, particularly in suburban areas in the North East. Tenants, particularly small tenants have a plethora of choices. On our site, http://blog.mysquarefeet.com we help small business owners learn about the complexity of finding, leasing and living in office space, retail space or industrial space to operate their business.
Comment by Maggie M. on 1 June 2008:
We’ve been steadily buying up small to medium sized income-producing properties all along. We’ve gotten some amazing “bargains”.
All along you can find a way to make smart money. Once the market returns to “normal” it will be harder for the smaller investor to make the kind of deals they can now.
Maggie M.
Professional Property Scout
Http://nacreps.org
Comment by Ron Largent on 29 July 2008:
What we have found here in Northern California is that we still have a good number of buyers for commercial properties….depending on whether they are making money or not. In my case, I sell Convenience Mini-Mart Stores with Gas…and have a regular number of inquiries. Then we have some apartments, and the phone will not ring.
I do not think, though, that the commercial market has been hit as hard as the residential, other than due to the overbuilding in our area.
Thanks,
Ron Largent Keller Williams Realty in Redding, CA