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Ex-Federal Reserve Chief Paul Volcker Cautions About Unbridled Debt

Ex-Federal Reserve Chief Paul Volcker Cautions About Unbridled Debt

(MIAMI BEACH, FL) - The Urban Land Institute's 2008 Fall Meeting, an annual gathering attended by more than 5,000 of the real estate industry's leading professionals, wrapped up yesterday in sunny South Florida with a cloudy forecast for the coming... Read More

 
Grubb & Ellis Principal Jeff Sweeney Bucks the Doom-and-Gloomers by Predicting Upturn in Commercial Market by End of 2009

Grubb & Ellis Principal Jeff Sweeney Bucks the Doom-and-Gloomers by Predicting Upturn in Commercial Market by End of 2009

(ORLANDO, FL) - Jeffrey S. Sweeney, a Central Florida commercial real estate professional for 25 years, is sticking his brokerage neck out and predicting the state's plunging office, industrial and retail markets will be bouncing back by the end of... Read More

 
Worst Residential Real Estate Bear Market since 1945, Says New Winans Report

Worst Residential Real Estate Bear Market since 1945, Says New Winans Report

(NOVATO, CA) - The Winans International Real Estate Index, which has being measuring U.S. new home prices from 1830 to present day, reported today the nation is suffering the worst residential real estate bear market since 1945.Ken Winans"When will this... Read More

 
Existing-Home Sales Rise on Improved Affordability

Existing-Home Sales Rise on Improved Affordability

(WASHINGTON, DC) - Existing-home sales increased last month as buyers responded to improved housing affordability conditions, according to the National Association of Realtors®.Lawrence YunExisting-home sales - including single-family, townhomes, condominiums and co-ops - rose 5.5 percent to a seasonally adjusted... Read More

 
The Credit Crunch and the Pain of Deleveraging

The Credit Crunch and the Pain of Deleveraging

We're currently experiencing a credit crunch: credit is not flowing. It isn't flowing because the banks are holding onto whatever cash they have. Banks are holding the cash, rather than lending, in order to be able to meet the unpleasant... Read More

 
Eco Towers Project Launch: First Platinum Rated Building in Middle East

Eco Towers Project Launch: First Platinum Rated Building in Middle East

(ABU DHABI, UAE) - Today's launch of the dual Eco Towers demonstrates a new level of concern about the environment in the Middle East and continuing faith in the economy of Abu Dhabi at a time when real estate investment... Read More

 
American Home Mortgage Servicing Leases 76,075 SF at Liberty Property Trust's Butler Plaza in Jacksonville, FL

American Home Mortgage Servicing Leases 76,075 SF at Liberty Property Trust's Butler Plaza in Jacksonville, FL

(JACKSONVILLE, FL) - In the largest Jacksonville, FL industrial lease since the banking industry turmoil began a month ago, American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc. of Irving, TX has leased 76,075 square feet at the newly-constructed, 100-percent leased Butler Plaza III,... Read More

 
Dubai Mall Opening Postponed Again: New Date is November 4

Dubai Mall Opening Postponed Again: New Date is November 4

(DUBAI, UAE) - The opening of Dubai Mall, the largest shopping center in the Middle East, has been postponed again because traffic systems, telephones, and some stores are not ready. The original opening date of August 28 was pushed back... Read More

 
Diva's Hollywood Hills Home Still on Market

Diva's Hollywood Hills Home Still on Market

(LOS ANGELES, CA) - Priced at $7,995,000, singer Christina Aguilera's Hollywood Hills home can't be purchased for a song, but it is still on the market, and that's more than can be said of some other houses listed six months... Read More

 
Emirates Airlines' New Terminal Ready for More Tourists as Flights to the US Increase

Emirates Airlines' New Terminal Ready for More Tourists as Flights to the US Increase

(DUBAI, UAE) - The world's largest airport terminal, Dubai's Terminal 3 or T3, is approaching full function today as Emirates Airlines begins routing 60 percent of its arrivals and departures through the new facility. Opened two weeks ago on October... Read More

 
Orlando Magic Star Dwight Howard Buys $8M Lakefront Home

Orlando Magic Star Dwight Howard Buys $8M Lakefront Home

(ORLANDO, FL) - Dwight Howard, the six-foot-eleven, 265-pound center of the Orlando Magic has purchased an $8 million, lakefront residence at Lake Club in Seminole County.Roger Soderstrom, founder and owner of Stirling Sotheby's International Realty, announced the sale Tuesday night. ... Read More

 
Washington, DC REIT Closes $100M Loan in Biggest Deal Since Wall Street Meltdown

Washington, DC REIT Closes $100M Loan in Biggest Deal Since Wall Street Meltdown

(WASHINGTON, DC) - In the largest loan deal since Wall Street's meltdown three weeks ago, a low-key REIT, DuPont Fabros Technology Inc., has closed on a $100 million secured loan with a syndicate of lenders led by Cleveland, OH-based KeyBank.Real... Read More

 
S&P Home Price Index Shows Same Old (Down) Story

S&P Home Price Index Shows Same Old (Down) Story

(NEW YORK, NY) - Two months to go before 2008 is history and home prices continue to travel south.Data through August 2008, released today by Standard & Poor's for its S&P/Case-Shiller1 Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home... Read More

 
Wyndham Adds New Orleans' Chateau Bourbon to its Historic Hotel Portfolio

Wyndham Adds New Orleans' Chateau Bourbon to its Historic Hotel Portfolio

(NEW ORLEANS, LA) - Wyndham Hotels & Resorts of Parsippany, NJ, has struck a deal with New Orleans-based HRI Lodging to place HRI's 251-room, Chateau Bourbon into its Historic Hotel portfolio. The building which houses the hotel in the French... Read More

 
S&P Predicts Flat Retail Finale as Customers Count Pennies

S&P Predicts Flat Retail Finale as Customers Count Pennies

(NEW YORK, NY) - Standard  & Poor's credit analyst Gerald A. Hirshberg is calling for a cool retail 2008 finale with total sales expected to only match last year's $255 billion number."The end of 2008 is shaping up to be... Read More

 
Florida Cheers, Illinois Groans Over September Home Sales

Florida Cheers, Illinois Groans Over September Home Sales

(SPRINGFIELD, IL and ORLANDO, FL) - They're up in Florida; down in Illinois. September sales of existing single-family homes and condominiums bring encouraging news to one sector; discouraging news to another. Prices, however, were down in both markets.The 55,000-member Illinois... Read More

 
Abu Dhabi Primed to Take Off with Louvre, Guggenheim in Tow

Abu Dhabi Primed to Take Off with Louvre, Guggenheim in Tow

(ABU DHABI, UAE) - In some respect, while Dubai is the glitzy Las Vegas of the Eastern Hemisphere, Abu Dhabi is becoming the cultured New York City. Read More

 
Canadian Buyers Flocking to Florida and other Sun Belt Real Estate Markets

Canadian Buyers Flocking to Florida and other Sun Belt Real Estate Markets

(LAS VEGAS, Nev.) - An estimated three million people flee freezing North America each winter and escape to warmer places such as Palm Springs, Calif., Phoenix, Ariz., and Florida. Many of these so-called "Snowbirds" are from Canada. Now, with Canada's... Read More

 
RECI Predicts Cap Rates for Sellers of 8% in 2008, 9% in 2009 and 10% in 2010 as Accurate Property Valuation Nearly Impossible

RECI Predicts Cap Rates for Sellers of 8% in 2008, 9% in 2009 and 10% in 2010 as Accurate Property Valuation Nearly Impossible

(CHICAGO, IL) - Where are cap rates heading? Even the usually knowledgeable Real Estate Capital Institute, based in Chicago, isn't sure."The start of the mortgage meltdown over a year ago continues wrecking havoc on the real estate capital markets," says... Read More

 
September Foreclosures Down 12 Percent over August, RealtyTrac Reports

September Foreclosures Down 12 Percent over August, RealtyTrac Reports

(IRVINE, CA) - Decrease in September can be attributed to changes in state laws that have at least temporarily slowed down the pace at which lenders are moving forward with foreclosures," says RealtyTrac CEO James J. Saccacio. Read More

 
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