Last Thursday – an archetypal rainy and windswept late October afternoon in New England (think orange and red leaves underfoot, Finny and Gene walking to class, etc., etc.) – I attended the annual Symposium offered by the Real Estate Council of Boston College . In attendance, perhaps one hundred and fifty lenders, developers, investors, lawyers, brokers, professors and priests. As someone that participates in a fair number of these things, I can’t say enough good things about the quality of the presentation coordinated by Cushman’s Rob Griffin and the balance of TREC members. Even the welcoming remarks – in this case by BC President Fr. William Leahy, S.J. – included a thoughtful recognition of the state of the CRE market (having, in the past 5 years, acquired more than 50 acres of prime real estate, commenced construction of a massive new academic building and committed the bulk of a $1.5b capital campaign to the construction of student housing, it’s clear this guy knows his way around a performance bond). His take – buy, never sell (not terribly surprising given his Boss’ investment horizon).
Continue Reading Cisneros Discusses State of CRE
Economic Recovery
Vacation Induced Optimism?
By Rick Jones on
It seems that I use most of my time in this space to rail against an unthoughtful regulatory architecture that will certainly surprise and may ultimately do unintended and substantial harm to our nascent and uncertain recovery. While, from where I sit, it’s still fair to say this market continues to show little real conviction that it’s safe to get back in the water (hardly an irrational mindset) there is, periodically, some good news. So let’s make time for a bit of good news. Ta-da: It was reported recently that average consumer credit card borrowings have dropped below $5,000 per person for the first time since 2002.
This is terrific news. Perhaps not the stuff of rational giddiness, but combine that with the fact that corporate earnings are up, private cash savings rates are at recent highs, the de-leveraging is going great guns (everywhere, that is, outside of our government), house prices seem to be stabilizing in most markets even if sales continue to lag, interest rates are at ridiculously low levels and the reality of the re-set of the valuations of both the commercial and residential property stock has been internalized. A bit of optimism is not wildly inappropriate.Continue Reading Vacation Induced Optimism?