Stephen Blank

Stephen R. Blank joined ULI in December 1998 as Senior Fellow, Finance. His primary responsibilities include: expanding ULI’s real estate capital markets information and education programs; authoring real estate capital market commentary; participating as a principal researcher and adviser for the Emerging Trends in Real Estate series of publications; organizing and participating in real estate capital markets programs at ULI events worldwide; and participating in industry meetings, seminars, and conferences. Prior to joining ULI, Blank served from December 1993 to November 1998 as Managing Director, Real Estate Investment Banking of Oppenheimer & Co., Inc. His responsibilities included: structuring, underwriting, and executing corporate financings including initial public offerings of common and preferred shares, unsecured debentures, and convertible bonds; property acquisitions, dispositions, and financing; and financial advisory services including mergers and acquisitions, corporate restructurings, and recapitalizations.

The market for commercial real estate mortgages sliced, diced, priced, and marketed as commercial mortgage-backed securities is back in force. In the U.S., issuance in the first quarter 2011 equaled $8.7 billion with non-U.S. offerings totaling $1.3 billion. Read who the top 10 originators were and about the types of property collateralizing the various offerings.
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders remained literally “frozen in place” over the past few weeks. All-in cost remains in 5.00 to 5.25 percent range. The Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick-Goldman survey for the period ended April 28 showed spreads narrowing 10 to as much as 25 basis points; it’s hard to imagine mortgages being priced more attractively.
April 15, 2011, was a “Black Friday” of sorts, with federal bank regulators closing six banks, representing a serious increase in such activity. Commercial real estate loans accounted for $304 million of the banks’ combined distressed portfolio, or about 76 percent of total footings. Read what analysis of the numbers says about the continuation of real estate loans going bad and banks failing.
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders remained unchanged over the past two-week period. All-in cost remains in the 5.00% to 5.50% range.
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders widened slightly as a result of a widening in spreads for 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. Average rates closed the reporting period at 5.24%. Due to the Good Friday holiday closing of the financial markets the weekly Trepp survey was not updated this week.
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders widened slightly as a result of a widening in spreads for 10-year U.S. Treasury bonds. Average rates closed the reporting period at 5.24%. The Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick-Goldman survey ended March literally where it started with spreads in the 250 basis point range (for 5-year loans) and 185 basis point range (for 10-year loans).
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders narrowed over the reporting period with average rates now closer to 5.0%. The Cushman & Wakefield Sonnenblick-Goldman survey ended March literally where it started with spreads in the 250 basis point range (for 5-year loans) and 185 basis point range (for 10-year loans).
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders remained unchanged with financing available at attractive rates (5.25%+/-). The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders remained unchanged with financing available at attractive rates (5.25%+/-).
The Commercial Mortgage Alert Trepp weekly survey of 15 active portfolio lenders widened 5 basis points (0.05%) while Treasuries narrowed. Net, net: financing remains available at attractive rates (5.25%+/-).
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