From the monthly archives:

January 2010

Commercial Real Estate: 6.8 Trillion Reasons Why it Won’t Derail the Recovery

January 26, 2010

Not even Joe DiMaggio could have hit this change up. Just one year ago, the United States financial system stood on the brink of failure. GDP had declined by 6.25%, the most severe contraction since 1982. In November 2008, non-farm payrolls were cut by 533,000, the most severe contraction since 1974. But just a few […]

Read the full article →

Healthcare REIT Directory

January 19, 2010

This is the most up-to-date Healthcare REIT list on the web, including the recently public SABRA Healthcare REIT, which was spun out from Sun Healthcare Group. Prices and yields update daily at the close, and the list contains links to the latest news and home pages of each REIT. Links to additional REIT lists by […]

Read the full article →

Office REIT Directory

January 19, 2010

This is the most comprehensive and up to date Office REIT directory on the web; prices and yields are updated daily at the close. The list is organized by alphabet in ascending order. The list contains working links to the home page of each REIT, and links to Yahoo news. Links to additional REIT lists […]

Read the full article →

Direxion’s New REIT ETF Posts 168% Gain In Six Months

January 13, 2010
Making Money on REIT ETFs

As the world was coming to an end in March of 2009, REITWrecks wrote a rather forward-leaning post entitled REIT Stocks: 4 Ways to Play the Carnage. REITs have rallied strongly since then, and even more strongly since Direxion launched its new levered REIT ETF series in early July. The launch could not have been […]

Read the full article →

The State of Commercial Real Estate: Sternlicht and Zuckerman Have a Few Things to Say

January 10, 2010

Barry Sternlight and Mort Zuckerman are in the thick of it. Both run REITs that focus on two of the most battered sectors in the business: mortgages and office buildings. Sternlicht, a commercial real estate veteran, took Mortgage REIT Starwood Properties Trust (STWD), public in August, while 72 year old Zuckerman has been running Boston […]

Read the full article →

Mortgage REIT Annaly Downgraded by Piper Jaffray

January 9, 2010
Thumbnail image for Mortgage REIT Annaly Downgraded by Piper Jaffray

REIT Wrecks avoids the daily ugrade/downgrade wars on Mortgage REITs in favor of longer term trends, but Annaly is a bellwether and for that reason Piper Jaffray’s downgrade of NLY from Neutral to Underweight is worth noting. Piper Jaffray lowered their price target by $3, or over 15%. The most interesting aspect of the downgrade […]

Read the full article →

Does Denial of Loan Modifications Constitute A Violation of the Fifth Amendment?

January 7, 2010
Thumbnail image for Does Denial of Loan Modifications Constitute A Violation of the Fifth Amendment?

These days, the only thing more cramped than a Hong Kong cemetery is office space for special servicers. Nevertheless, if you’re a borrower in trouble, it’s unlikely that you’ll be outnumbered. CMBS default rates ballooned by almost 500% in 2009, up from 1.21% in the beginning of 2009 to over 6% by the end of […]

Read the full article →

San Francisco Apartment Loan Portfolio Sells For 64% of Face Value

January 3, 2010
Thumbnail image for San Francisco Apartment Loan Portfolio Sells For 64% of Face Value

Talk about a REIT Wreck. Landing head first in a rock pile would be a much better metaphor for the 2009 commercial real estate market than an explanation for my year-end absence. However, that’s exactly what happened in a biking accident early in November, and my right arm spent the waning days of 2009 bound […]

Read the full article →