The Freelance Star reports a rise in mixed use developments in Maryland communities, especially those like Kentlands, where mixed commercial and residential use is thriving.
The Kentlands commercial center, which includes franchises popular with young singles and couples such as Starbucks, a variety of restaurants, shops and outlet stores, anchors the apartments, townhouse condos and single-family […]

According to the LA Times, the sliding commercial real estate market has an upside for investors: Buying shares in publicly traded real estate investment trusts.
REITs-which outperformed stocks over the past 10 years have lost some of their investment luster recently due to investor fears that market values of the properties underlying commercial REITs this year […]

As you may be aware, the Maryland General Assembly has concluded the special session called by the Governor to address the State’s budget. Among the many changes included in the Tax Reform Act of 2007 is the imposition of recordation and transfer taxes on each transfer of a “controlling interest” in a “real property entity.”
Although […]

Retail Traffic described Holliday Fenoglio Fowler L.P.’s third quarter conference call-during which execs from the CRE intermediary noted some strong fundamentals in the commercial sector-as an optimistic indicator for commercial real estate lending.
While the recent MIT TBI index showed a 2.5 percent drop in the value of commercial real estate debt in pension funds, there […]

The MIT TBI index reported that the value of U.S. commercial real estate owned by big pension funds fell 2.5 percent in the third quarter of 2007. The index figures, which are produced by the MIT Center for Real Estate, measure only commercial property sales to pension funds.
Last quarter’s drop was the first in commercial […]

The New York Times reported that an Ohio federal judge blocked attempts by Deutsche Bank National Trust Company to foreclose on borrowers behind in their mortgage payments because the bank failed to produce evidence that it held the mortgages.
The court’s decision involved 14 foreclosure actions brought on behalf of mortgage investors. The bank was acting […]

The Washington Post reported that the current credit crunch may have a bright side: That of creating opportunities for buyers who don’t need to borrow cash to buy commercial property but were unable to buy when a burgeoning real estate market drove up prices through using low cost loans to buy and flip properties for […]

Prime Newswire is reporting very positive response from commercial real estate firms to the draft on exemption guidance recently released by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The new guidance draft involves compensation that real estate brokers can receive for those sales of tenant-in-common (TIC) sales that are structured as securities.
If approved, the guidance […]

HometownAnnapolis reported a 1.33 percent rise in commercial vacancy rates during the third quarter of this year, an improvement over the 3.61 vacancy rise during the second quarter. Figures were provided by MacKenzie Commercial Real Estate Services, and percentage increases are over 2006 figures.
Despite the fact that more commercial space became available during the past […]

According to a PR Newswire release, almost two-thirds of those responding to a recent nation-wide commercial real estate survey that focused on applying green technologies to existing commercial buildings have budgeted funds for green building initiatives. Most of those surveyed also said they expect their investment in sustainability to increase next year.
Results of the survey, […]