Finance – Capital Markets
While the latest Harvard University’s Joint Center for Housing Studies (JCHS) report on the state of rental housing in the United States. shows some positive signs for inventory, the overall trend persists that low- to moderate-income renters face significant cost burdens in most markets.
Commercial real estate lending markets remained on the upswing in Q3 2017 with rising equity prices, limited volatility, and tightening spreads, according to the latest research from CBRE.
U.S. multifamily rents increased in May for the third month in a row, according to Yardi Matrix’s monthly survey of 121 markets, but the rate of growth continues to decelerate. On a year-over-year basis, U.S. monthly rents were up 1.5 percent nationwide in May. The year-over-year growth rate has decreased for 13 straight months since peaking at 5.4 percent in April 2016.
As real estate investment hubs, Latin America’s major cities rarely compare to other world capitals. However, changing regulations combined with investors scouring the globe for growth could bring fresh liquidity into major metropolitan areas like São Paulo and Mexico City, according to panelists speaking at the ULI Latin America Conference in February.
Europe is a divided continent in many ways. While markets like Spain, Portugal, and Croatia are experiencing a surge in visitors, France, Belgium, and Turkey face a tourism crisis. Performance varies from country to country.
The U.S. property market landscape in 2017 will be characterized by continued strong fundamentals, increased investment flows, and high transaction volume, while the broader U.S. economy should continue to grow moderately and add jobs.
In a volatile year, the FTSE/NAREIT All REIT Index posted a modest total return of 9.3 percent in 2016, while the S&P 500 saw a total return of 12 percent. Real estate investment trusts (REITs) enjoyed a pleasant opening to the year, followed by a skittish second half as interest rate concerns applied downward pressure.
Encouraging economic news released in August heightened the potential that the Fed will increase interest rates. But this good news proved to be a bit too positive, as it may have contributed to a withdrawal in the real estate investment trust sector. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.
Transparency in the global real estate sector has improved markedly, according to a recent report produced by JLL and LaSalle Investment Management, with the ten most transparent countries taking 75 percent of global investment volumes.
Landlords are confident that apartments are not overbuilt, and rents continue to increase in many markets, but real estate investment trust investors are less certain. This year, deliveries are reaching new peaks, and investor worries about a market softening are reflected in the sector’s –1.12 percent year-to-date total return. Plus, interest rate survey data from Trepp.