Commercial real estate news & headlines

The outbreak of the deadly Coronavirus has dealt a major blow to the global economy. Some of the most effective measures put in place to curb the virus spread include social distancing, which is awful news to mall owners with real estate investment trusts (REITs) in their portfolios. Businesses are already shifting online and closing brick and mortar locations in malls, thanks to a strained economy. But even before the Covid-19 pandemic, malls ha...

Last month there were occasional jumps in the UK property prices but according to a recent report by Nationwide, the market recovery signs are set to come to a halt amid the Covid-19 pandemic. While house prices rose by 3.7% last month representing a three-year high, the impact of the pandemic was not factored in the percentage, the British mutual financial institution said. Nationwide’s House Price Index for April utilizes mortgage approval info...

A report has emerged showing more than half of the department stores in US malls could close permanently by the end of 2021. According to the report by Green Street Advisors, the whole of the US is currently serviced by about 1,000 open malls, and 60% of the occupants are retail department stores. The researchers say the looming demise of the US department stores has been occasioned by the current Coronavirus pandemic that has slowed down the cou...

Research by property consultancy firm Knight Frank shows that about 520,000 house sales are set to be lost this year in the UK, following a government directive that froze the housing market after the Coronavirus outbreak. According to the real estate firm, the 38% drop in house sales during the year is set to have a ripple effect across the sector, hitting retailers and even government coffers. If the social distancing directive by government st...

Whichever way you choose to look at it, real estate activities materially impact the climate. A study by Global Alliance for Building and Construction shows that building and construction activities account for about 40% of energy-related carbon dioxide emissions, and are also responsible for more than a third of energy use globally. Frequent changes in climatic conditions are resulting in extreme weather patterns that ultimately impact real esta...

2019 went down as the worst year for the UK real estate in a decade. The markets were mainly affected by the pending premiership elections and the Brexit. While the uncertainty hasn’t fully cleared, some parts of Europe are already experiencing modest to massive gains in their real estate rental prices.One such place is Croatia – where since last year, the market price per square meter for rental apartments has jumped by about 10%, pl...

A real estate investment trust yesterday reported that despite the economic and political instability in the region, UK rental rates have risen over the past year. Real Estate Investors PLC said that contracted rents increased to £17.7 million or by 3.9% in 2019. The trust, which boasts of a portfolio of about 1.6 million square feet of commercial property, renewed nine leases in the past year and closed 44 new lettings. “Despite high...

The UK house prices were negatively impacted by the Brexit uncertainty for the better part of last year, but tables started turning as we approached 2020. On average, the UK housing market closed off the year with a 1.4% gain; this is according to a report by Nationwide Building Society.The society indicated that the house prices in most parts of the UK took a hit up until October before the market started recovering to close the year with the mo...

In recent times, different real estate predictions from various experts on cities such as Boston and Washington show a thriving sector occasioned by tight inventory and low-interest rates. While property price increments have stalled in these cities, their demand and prices continue to stabilise.But when it comes to the overall US real estate outlook, statistics are less pleasant: most urban areas have seen home value growth decline to 2015 level...

The UK property market is expecting a short-term improvement in sentiment following last week’s massive win by the Conservancy party, enabling Prime Minister Boris Johnson to retain his seat in a tightly-contested election. However, fund managers are still concerned about the fate of the property market beyond next year.CEO of AEW, Rob Wilkinson expressed his concerns saying: “A Tory majority is the most positive or benign outcome for...

Boris Johnson’s landslide win on Thursday triggered the pound to hit a 12-month high, within the first 20 minutes of the Prime Minister’s victory. Financial markets are responding to the pro-business Conservative Party victory and the coming to an of the dramatisation of Brexit. Analysts and savvy investors predicted a surged market after the election, and true to that, the real estate sector is beginning to recede. The property marke...

If you’ve been in the property industry for long enough, chances are you’ve interacted with several real estate agents. Agents provide prospective clients with useful information to enable them to make a buy or rent decision. But the agents are sometimes reluctant to provide certain information, but it is not their fault. Property brokers and agents operate in a highly-regulated space, and as such, they can only disclose so much to th...

The UK real estate could be headed for a major bounce back in the next five years, after months of plummeting prices. The crisis, which has now lasted across the country for several quarters, could not-so-long from now come to an end, this is according to a Wednesday report by Savills.Savills is a brokerage and real estate adviser based in London and its recent report predicts a 15.3% price jump for existing UK homes between the year 2020 and 202...

Metro Vancouver real estate is not about to stay down despite the laid down plans to slow down the local housing market. Evidence shows that the housing sector is ramping, in fact, much faster than anticipated. “Since the bottoming out earlier this year, we have seen significant momentum building for the Lower Mainland / Metro Vancouver area,” says Brian Yu, the deputy chief economist for Central 1. “Sales have risen significant...

The United Kingdom’s opposition party, the Labour Party, has promised to broaden the tax base imposed on foreign trusts and companies looking to invest in the UK. This is part of the party’s long-term tax strategy, and it looks to impose a tax purchase charge on all properties bought by foreigners, in addition to the current surcharges and stamp duties. According to Shadow chancellor John McDonnell, the revenue is necessary to “...

Property listings in the UK this year have seen the biggest fall ever since 2009, with analysts blaming it on the upcoming election and Brexit, according to a survey published on Monday.According to property website, Rightmove, in the last four weeks to Nov. 9 alone, property listings dropped by 14.9% compared to the same period in 2018. The drop was the biggest in a decade.“I’ve seen lots of unusual events affecting the property mark...

San Francisco-based HelloOffice has just secured $6.5 million in a new round of funding and is absconding to Los Angeles to set up its first regional office. The fairly new real estate brokerage company disclosed to its potential customers that they will set up a new location in Southern California at 10250 Constellation Blvd. in Century City. The new LA office will be managed by the Former L.A. Realty Partners Senior Executive Director Owen File...