Bright Outlook!

Brokers forecast commercial space demand will stay robust

Jerry W. Jackson |Sentinel Staff Writer

January 31, 2008

Orlando's commercial real-estate sector carried the load in 2007 in terms of deals, construction and job growth, as residential sales and construction slumped. Now commercial is slowing as well.

But a panel of leading Central Florida real-estate brokers said Wednesday the local market for offices, apartments, retail and industrial space remains robust by historical standards and clearly is healthier than those in other parts of Florida, including Miami and Tampa.

"Orlando has held up reasonably well," said Kenneth P. Riggs Jr., chief executive officer of Real Estate Research Corp. and moderator of the 2008 Outlook Commercial Real Estate Conference, which was sponsored by the Central Florida Commercial Association of Realtor and attended by more than 250 people at the Holiday Inn on International Drive.


Voters say ‘Yes on 1’

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. – Jan. 30, 2008 –Realtors around the state expect buyers and sellers’ pent up demand to generate an immediate increase in home sales following passage yesterday of Amendment 1, which allows buyers to take their Save Our Homes tax savings with them when they move.

“People who buy now are getting a great deal because home prices have fallen,” says 2007 FAR President and St. Petersburg Realtor Nancy Riley, who led the charge last year in support of Amendment 1. “These price reductions, combined with portability, will mean a great deal on the taxes owed on their new home.”

Fed may cut interest rates again

WASHINGTON – Jan. 29, 2008 – Individuals and businesses are likely to see their borrowing costs drop further as the Federal Reserve weighs another interest-rate reduction to bolster a sagging economy.

Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and his colleagues are scheduled to open a two-day meeting Tuesday afternoon to plot their next move on interest rates. The closed-door gathering comes amid growing fears the country is either on the brink of a recession or has already started slipping into one given the strains from a housing market collapse, a global credit crunch and turbulence on Wall Street. The country’s last recession was in 2001.


UF survey: Florida’s commercial market remains strong

GAINESVILLE, Fla. – Jan. 29, 2008 – The latest survey by the University of Florida’s Bergstrom Center for Real Estate Studies finds two real estate worlds in Florida. While the residential world continues to suffer and receive bad press, the commercial world thrives. Analysts say that commercial respondents continue to report stable, healthy conditions in the state.

Path to wealth is through real estate holdings

ORLANDO, Fla. – Jan. 29, 2008 – Sorry, folks, this is not a get-rich-quick book. Still, you may be richer than you think, write authors Catherine McBreen and George Walper Jr. in Get Rich, Stay Rich, Pass It On.

More than 7 million American households today claim total assets of a million dollars or more. But it’s far more likely that “You’re among a group we call the mass affluent, people whose total assets add up to anywhere between $100,000 and $1 million, not including their primary residence,” according to the authors.

McBreen and Walper are managing director and president, respectively, of Spectrem Group, a research and consulting company that has been studying the affluent since 1991.


Fannie and Freddie to the rescue?

WASHINGTON – Jan. 29, 2008 – Hoping to speed delivery of its $150 billion pick-me-up for the U.S. economy, the Bush Administration reluctantly agreed to temporarily increase the size of the mortgages Fannie Mae (FNM) and Freddie Mac (FRE) can purchase, from $417,000 to nearly double that. Proponents of the shift hope that Fannie and Freddie – which together own or guarantee about half of the $10 trillion in total home loans in the U.S. – can unfreeze the market for those “jumbo” loans and kick-start the housing market. But for a variety of reasons, Fannie and Freddie may not be in position to cure the subprime mortgage mess.

Economists and analysts agree that boosting the mortgage limit will help inject the jumbo loan market, which is under significant strain, with much-needed financing. The additional business Fannie and Freddie will generate with that financing should eventually help bring down prices and increase the availability of such loans. However, the two companies still haven’t fully rebounded from the big accounting scandals that first came to light in 2003. With substantially thinner profit margins and tighter regulatory constraints, they have limited financial freedom to bail out others’ bad investments.

Mortgages!

30-year mortgages rates decline

WASHINGTON – Jan. 25, 2008 – Rates on 30-year mortgages dropped for a fourth straight week to the lowest level in nearly four years, raising hopes that low rates will help spur a rebound in the hard-hit housing industry.

Freddie Mac, the mortgage company, reported Thursday that 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages averaged 5.48 percent this week, down from 5.69 percent last week.

It was the fourth consecutive decline and the third straight week that rates have been below the 6 percent level. The new rate marked the lowest point for 30-year mortgages since they averaged 5.40 percent the week of March 25, 2004.


Proposed mortgage plan could aid markets

WASHINGTON – Jan. 25, 2008 – A component of the government’s tentative economic stimulus package announced Thursday would give an immediate lift to buyers and sellers in higher-priced housing markets.

The package agreed upon by Democratic and Republican members of the House would allow government-sponsored Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to buy mortgages up to 75 percent more expensive than the current $417,000 limit. The Senate and White House still must sign off on the proposed stimulus plan, which also includes tax rebates for Americans.

2008 is a Year of Opportunity

To date - 2008 seems to be a year that will be marked by OPPORTUNITY.

It's All About Jobs

Everybody in real estate should keep an eye on the unemployment rate. The jobs picture will determine how bad the real estate markets get. If companies keep up modest hiring and avoid layoffs, real estate can skate through the rough patch, and recent economic weakness will turn out to be relatively benign. But if companies start announcing hiring freezes and layoffs pick up, watch out. That's when office markets suffer retrenchments, business travelers cut back on hotels, and consumers really shut down at the mall. Only recently have employment numbers shown signs of deteriorating.

(Miller Ryan LLC has a business alliance with FPL Advisory)

Friday, January 18, 2008

Fountain Parke could get commercial development

Developer's Web site shows plans for 158,000 SF of retail/office.

Orlando Business Journal - by Anjali Fluker Staff Writer

LAKE MARY -- A South Florida developer plans to build a new 158,000-square-foot shopping and office project in Lake Mary, as well as three retail projects in Clermont valued at $42.5 million.

Pointe Development Co.'s Web site is touting leasing opportunities at Fountain Parke, a site on Rinehart Road with nearly 118,000 square feet of shopping and another 40,080 square feet of office space.

That project, for which the cost has yet to be determined, appears to be part of the 19 acres set aside for commercial development at the Fountain Parke planned development.

NEWS

Friday, January 18, 2008

Fountain Parke could get commercial development

Developer's Web site shows plans for 158,000 SF of retail/office.

Orlando Business Journal - by Anjali Fluker Staff Writer

LAKE MARY -- A South Florida developer plans to build a new 158,000-square-foot shopping and office project in Lake Mary, as well as three retail projects in Clermont valued at $42.5 million.

Pointe Development Co.'s Web site is touting leasing opportunities at Fountain Parke, a site on Rinehart Road with nearly 118,000 square feet of shopping and another 40,080 square feet of office space.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Pinnacle plans Residence Inn for Lake Mary

119-room hotel to be built next to Marriott.

Orlando Business Journal - by Dan Ping Staff Writer

LAKE MARY -- Seminole County's International Parkway may never be confused with International Drive in Orlando, but it's quickly becoming a magnet for hotels.

Pinnacle Hotel Management is the latest firm to announce plans for a new hotel, a 119-room Residence Inn by Marriott. It joins the 304-room Lake Mary Marriott, the 131-room Hampton Inn and Suites, the 83-room Courtyard by Marriott and the proposed 250-room Westin hotel.

Friday, January 18, 2008

Lamm & Co. to build Maitland brownstone project

$24M office development aimed at small professional firms.

Orlando Business Journal - by Dan Ping Staff Writer

MAITLAND -- Lamm & Co. Partners is developing a $24 million brownstone office project on 7 acres in Maitland for small professional firms.

Dubbed the Office Brownstones at Maitland Concourse South, the project will include 87,256 square feet of office space in a campus-like setting on the south side of Maitland Boulevard just west of the Jewish Community Center of Greater Orlando.

RESIDENTIAL: COST VS VALUE REPORT

Click to view a new REMODELING COST VS VALUE REPORT

Florida Schools Improving!

Florida schools rank 14th nationally despite low spending level

TALLAHASSEE, Fla. (AP) – Jan. 10, 2008 – Florida’s schools ranked 14th nationally with a grade of C-plus on a report card issued Wednesday by Education Week magazine, although the state placed only 38th in public education spending.

Much of the credit for Florida’s overall finish – up from 31st last year – among the 50 states and District of Columbia goes to high marks for its teaching profession and system of standards, assessment and accountability. Those are two of six categories measured in the annual Quality Counts report.

“Given the financial resources of the state and the complexities of the state of Florida we are certainly on the right track,” said Florida Education Commissioner Eric Smith.

This is the time to BUY

Orlando-area economy should perk up by year's end, economist says

Projects will help offset the slump, an economist tells Orange officials.

David Damron |Sentinel Staff Writer
January 9, 2008

Orange County faces the same slow economy that most of America does in 2008, but public arts, sports and highway projects and new medical jobs could help blunt the financial pain, an economist told county leaders Tuesday.

Florida Market Making a Comeback

Monday, January 7, 2008 - 11:19 AM EST

Report: Sunshine State real estate market to recover

Orlando Business Journal

The Florida housing market has flattened and is expected to begin its recovery, according to a report released Monday by Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund Inc.

The 2008 Fund Real Estate Forecast shows every county in the Sunshine State experienced a slowdown last year. The markets flattened in spring 2007 before the subprime mortgage crisis in August knocked markets down another 10 percent across the state, the report says.

The forecast shows that Orlando continues to be the state's strongest residential market due to the large number of fast-growing industries, including tourism, health care, education and defense manufacturing.

"Florida has a very large and powerful economy that has gone through a cyclical downshift, but it is still outperforming compared to the rest of the nation," says economist Hank Fishkind, who created the report, in a prepared statement. "The market has some indigestion now, but housing markets will return to normal during the next few years."

Fishkind also says recent reductions in home prices come after an unsustainable peak, and that prices are still up considerably compared to 30 years ago. Although loose lending practices and subprime mortgages have caused problems, the state still has the highest level of homeownership ever, he says in the statement.

The forecast, also posted on www.MyRealEstateStory.com, was commissioned by Orlando-based Attorneys' Title Insurance Fund's Consumer Education Campaign. Fishkind, of Orlando-based Fishkind & Associates Inc., conducted the report using The Fund's online system of deed data for more than 30 Florida counties. The report provides a snapshot of the national economic outlook and 33 county-specific forecasts for 2008 through 2010, as well as a section showing how actual 2007 data compared to projections made in last year's forecast.

Friday, January 4, 2008

$500M project planned north of airport

Orlando Gateway would feature hotels, apartments, office and retail space.

Orlando Business Journal - by Dan Ping Staff Writer

ORLANDO -- A piece of property near Orlando International Airport described as the "front door" to Orlando for the 35 million visitors who travel here each year is about to get a $500 million makeover.

Orlando Gateway Partners LLC purchased the 120 acres just north of the airport for $32 million Nov. 15 and plans to develop a mixed-use project named Orlando Gateway that would include at least two hotels, up to 1,200 apartments units, 200,000 square feet office space and 140,000 square feet of retail and restaurants.

Looking for economic possibilities for Orlando area's future

Beth Kassab | Business Columnist

January 7, 2008

No matter how you look at it, 2008 -- especially the first two quarters -- will be a year of waiting and watching for definitive signs to emerge from the mixed economic signals we're seeing.

Last week we looked to the past with a review of the Top 10 stories of 2007. Not surprisingly, the slump in the housing industry took the No. 1 spot.

Today we look to the future.

Friday, January 4, 2008

Big-box retailers eyeing Lake Nona

Developer buys 26 acres from Busch Properties for $9.1 million.

Orlando Business Journal - by Dan Ping Staff Writer

ORLANDO -- The tony community of Lake Nona is about to get its first big-box general merchandise retailer near the intersection of Narcoossee and Dowden roads.

Lake Nona Investors LLC purchased a 26.2-acre piece of land Dec. 14 for $9.1 million from Busch Properties of Florida LLC, the real estate arm of Anheuser-Busch Cos. Inc. Located at 9398 Narcoossee Road, the parcel will be used for 330,000 square feet of retail space, including a 200,000-square-foot supercenter retailer.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Dover Wishes You a Prosperous 2008 !!!