| Thousands Chase Deals in Las Vegas
Surging demand, new retail concepts and stirrings of new development were the talk of the Las Vegas Convention Center on Monday during the first day of RECon, the International Council of Shopping Centers’ annual spring convention. It is impossible to tell how many deals will emerge from the event, but as thousands of real estate professionals roamed the vast halls of the 3.5 million-square-foot facility, participants reported a sense of renewed optimism about the market… Read more Retail Development Back on the Horizon Looking for proof that the retail real estate industry is in a better place than it was even a year ago? New development is no longer a distant pipedream, but a tangible possibility as industry players begin conceiving new projects. Some companies, primarily publicly-traded retail REITs, might already be close to putting shovels in the ground as they sign up expanding retailers to go into their new centers… Read more Store Opening Plans are at Five-Year High, Survey Says The retailers in RBC Capital Markets’ database reported plans for 41,713 new store openings in the next 12 months, representing a five-year high in store opening plans. In the April issue of their National Retail Demand Monthly report, RBC analysts noted that “The continued strong demand by this large group of retailers comes despite fluctuations in overall consumer activity, increased payroll taxes, a modest GDP outlook and slow improvement on the employment front – another testimony to the long-term view taken by successful retailers. As such, we find little reason to suspect that planned store openings will pull back in any meaningful way in the near term”… Read more Lending Standards Easing for Biz, CRE; Chicago Fed Sees Lackluster Growth The Federal Reserve reported in its April “Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices” that domestic banks, on average, report easing their lending standards over the past three monthsand experiencing stronger demand in several loan categories. Banks are (relatively) easier these days with business loans, but still a little Scrooge-like when it comes to lending to households… Read more Housing Market Now the ‘Tailwind’ Pushing Economic Growth It was only a few years ago that the housing market helped drag the U.S. economy into the gutter, but times surely have changed. In its monthly economic forecast on Monday, Fannie Mae said it believes the recent slowdown in economic growth may be short-lived thanks to the strong rebound of the housing market, which will serve as the economy’s “tailwind” through the rest of the year and even into 2014… Read more |