Category: Top National News

DSNews, Oct. 6, 2015–West, Xhevrije Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were placed into conservatorship seven years ago, and questions still linger as to how and when to reform the GSEs.The Bipartisan Policy Center hosted a keynote address and panel discussion titled “Housing Finance Reform: Opportunities and Obstacles of Risk Sharing” on Tuesday.

Bloomberg, Oct. 6, 2015–Yu, Hui-Yong
MetLife Inc. is taking a majority stake in a 43-story office tower being built next to San Francisco’s Transbay Transit Center, expanding the biggest U.S. life insurer’s holdings in one of the country’s most expensive office markets.

National Mortgage News, Sept. 29, 2015–Finkelstein, BradBayview and Freddie Mac believe they can provide a stable funding supply to underserved to owners of small commercial properties.

National Real Estate Investor, Sept. 29, 2015–Misonzhnik, ElaineWorries about the fallout from Chinese economic troubles notwithstanding, U.S. chain retailers upped the number of stores they plan to open in the short term, according to the August report from RBC Capital Markets.

Bloomberg, Sept. 29, 2015–Alloway, Tracy; Scully, Matt Morgan Stanley analyst Richard Hill found something interesting in commercial mortgage-backed security remittance reports: three loans worth a collective $71 million made to Colony Hills Capital and which underpin two CMBS deals have found their way to special servicing.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 21, 2015–Dezember, Ryan  Two big owners of single-family rental homes said Monday they have agreed to merge, a bet that rents will keep rising and homes will remain difficult for many Americans to buy.

Wall Street Journal, Sept. 22, 2015–Fung, EstherAmid all the hype about Chinese investors buying real estate abroad, one prominent tycoon is bucking the trend. Zhang Xin, CEO of commercial property developer Soho China, said that real estate assets in major cities abroad are currently too pricey.

Pittsburgh Tribune, Sept. 22, 2015–Fleisher, Chris Pittsburgh’s commercial real estate market remains strong despite the pressure that low natural gas prices have put on the region’s burgeoning energy sector, a major driver of industrial space demand during the past seven years, according to a report Tuesday.

The Registry (San Francisco), Sept. 16, 2015–Amdur, Nancy
As office and industrial space in many markets gets increasingly difficult to find, a real estate Web site is launching a new service this week that allows companies to find and swap space. 

National Real Estate Investor, Sept. 16, 2015–Mattson-Teig, Beth
Small property investment deals often fall in the shadow of large trophy property sales that come with hefty price tags. But sales activity for real estate priced below $5 million is proving to be just as hot as it is for those larger assets.