CoStar recently reported that their commercial property sale price index had a 0.9% increase in September over August. Accounting for the increase were the still recovering retail real estate sector and the red-hot multifamily sector. Distressed sales accounted for 25% of the sale transactions used to calculate the 0.9% increase. Nondistressed property prices rose 2.3% for general properties and 1.9% for all commercial properties. Distressed properties continued their sale price decline. Costar said that the multifamily sector index increased 2.1% during September and had been up 7.3% in the second quarter. The multifamily index has increased a total of 12.3% since the market bottom and has outperformed all other property types.
Retail real estate insiders believe that 2012 will see many store closings as a result of weeks sales during this holiday season. The November/December period is do or die for many retailers. Conservative estimates place the number of retail store closings at 5,000 in 2012. Continued weakness in consumer confidence and a slow economy may not help those retailers that have been able to negotiate lower rents. Only time will tell.
A nonprofit public policy organization called the Real Estate Roundtable has recently released their sentiment index and it has dropped to 59 on a scale of 100 in the fourth quarter from 77 in the second quarter. The index is now at its lowest point since 2009. They said that there has been a big resurgence in demand for core real estate assets, but continued uncertainty about the economy has investors pulling back from properties in secondary and tertiary markets. They also said that buyers that were looking beyond core assets pulled back as soon as the European debt crisis flared up.
Here at Fair Assessments LLC we have been saving our commercial property clients an average of 21% on their property tax assessments during 2011. If you would like help with your property tax appeal please contact us.
