REAL ESTATE NEWS, TRENDS AND ANALYSIS

Monday, September 23, 2012

DEALS Marcus & Millichap to File IPO

GlobeStreet; September 23, 2013

TRENDS AND ANALYSIS Real estate's new frontier: Crowdfunding

CNBC; September 23, 2013

CALABASAS, CAInvestment advisory firm Marcus & Millichap Inc. has filed for an initial public offering with the US Securities and Exchange Commission, GlobeSt.com has EXCLUSIVELY found out. According to the filing, the number of shares and the price range for the offering have not been determined. With more than 1,100 investment and financing firms across the country, the firm is one of the largest specialists in commercial real estate investment services in the US. Last year, it closed 6,149 transactions in 2012, valued at approximately $22 billion. [READ MORE]

It's worked for films, political candidates and disaster relief, so why not real estate? Crowdfunding, the act of soliciting funds from the public, most recently via the Internet, is already a powerful tool, but, until today, was difficult to do in real estate. Developers were restricted from marketing projects to the public. Today, that restriction disappears, thanks to the Jumpstart Our Business Startups Act, or JOBS, passed in April 2012. Now developers can advertise and market their projects to so-called, "accredited" investors, or those with a net worth of at least $1 million and an annual income of at least $200,000 [READ MORE]

Blackstone Acquires Hughes Center for $347M

CoStar Group; September 23, 2013

Self-Storage Market 'Red Hot' for Trades

GlobeStreet; September 23, 2013

In a sign of improving business and office real estate conditions in Las Vegas, Blackstone Group LP has acquired Hughes Center, a 68-acre master-planned development comprised of 10 office and retail properties. Blackstone acquired the prominent property for $347 million through its global fund, Blackstone Real Estate Partners VII [READ MORE]

Investors have a strong taste for self-storage properties right now, says Marcus & Millichaps Richard A. Schontz, who specializes in selling the property type Despite the fluctuation in interest rates, the self storage sales market remains red hot, he says. We received several bids for this asset within two weeks at or near the asking price, with the winning bid coming at the asking price with very strong terms.[READ MORE]

Empire State Building REIT nears IPO date

Reuters; September 19, 2013

No Bubble In Multifamily Values, According to Freddie Mac

CoStar Group; September 23, 2013

After a nearly two-year journey, the price for the public to own a piece of New York's Empire State Building is close at hand. Empire State Realty Trust Inc, the real estate investment trust with the iconic skyscraper as its centerpiece, plans to launch an initial public offering of 71.5 million shares at $13 to $15 apiece, according to a regulatory filing on Thursday [READ MORE]

Renter household formation has outpaced owner household growth during the past few years, spurring a huge increase in multifamily property sales and new construction. Despite the boom in multifamily sales and development, Freddie Mac's latest Economic and Housing Market Outlook found that residential property values "remain consistent with fundamental economic forces in the housing market," and that the rate of appreciation for multifamily property values moderated over the past year. [READ MORE]