PPR - Latest News

"PPR in the News"

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases First Quarter 2008 Forecasts!

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Expands Portal Market Coverage

Just Released! Volume 12, Number 3 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

Two years ago, we published an issue of Real Estate / Portfolio Strategist on land investment. Since then, interest in finding opportunities in land has risen, and in the current market a number of players are working on raising or deploying capital. This paper serves both to update the work we did the last time around and to add some of the new things we have learned along the way.

Given its significant role in all types of real estate investment, land investment is surprisingly understudied. A lack of voluminous data has limited the research, while the lack of market transparency has also undoubtedly increased the land market’s inefficiency.

The premise underlying land investment is straightforward, although investments themselves can be quite complex. Simply put, the basis of land investment is that economic growth in all its forms — population, employment, income, etc. — increases the demand for new structures, whether homes, office buildings, retail centers, warehouses, or any other structure. Land is an investment in one of the factors of production for developers. Developers are far less busy today than they were a couple of years ago, and we do have a cycle to go through, but when the economy and real estate markets come back, rest assured that new construction will begin again.

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Launches Structured CRE Loan Module

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Launches Asian Service

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Enhances Portal with Axiometrics Property Data

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases Third Quarter 2007 Forecasts!

View Press Release

PPR and Axiometrics Form Strategic Partnership

PPR Portal Enhanced With Micro Market Analysis/Lease Transactions

The micro market analysis/lease transactions module in the Portal allows clients to study current and historical leasing activity surrounding a specific address. Effective rent, lease terms, and free months rent is shown at various radii by class/subtype for Office and Warehouse property types. Additionally, clients may review individual leases from a comparable building set of their choosing and calculate net effective rent from the actual leases.

Have you seen the new PRINT functions of the Portal??

We have enhanced the PPR Portal to allow for customized printing of specific tabs, complete with index…very neat!!!!

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases Second Quarter 2007 Forecasts!

View Press Release

PPR Newsletter: PPR's Leading Indicators Show Modest Reduction in CRE Lending Risk

View Newsletter

Volume 11, Number 6 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

The last five years have been a wild ride for the warehouse sector. First, demand dropped off a cliff with the recession of 2001. Then it recovered in spades as the American consumers shopped with a vengeance, refinanced their new homes, put on additions and filled them with stuff, all of which was good for filling warehouses. New construction behaved similarly, falling sharply in 2002, then amping up as big users engaged in a build-to-suit frenzy. The net effect was a steady recovery, with vacancies falling until the beginning of 2007. On the capital markets front, investor interest in the warehouse sector has been very strong for the last several years. A combination of factors has propelled this interest; warehouse vacancies have receded, investors see warehouses as business-sector-oriented investments, and business investment has been on a tear. Also, the low volatility of the asset class rightfully appeals to investors seeking safety.

That said, are these investors making the best bet? With warehouse assets trading at above replacement cost in many metros, can rampant oversupply be far behind? What are the real demand drivers, and what do they bode for the future?

Let’s dig a little bit into what happened, a whole lot into why, and, most importantly, what’s going to happen next in the U.S. warehouse market.

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Announces New Global Strategist

View Press Release

PPR Newsletter: Down and Out In Orange County

View Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: PPR and Cushman & Wakefield Form Strategic Research Alliance

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases First Quarter 2007 Forecasts!

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Announces New Director of Risk Management and Debt Research

View Press Release

PPR Newsletter: It's Time For A Reality Check (aka, Employment Revisions)

View Newsletter

PPR Newsletter - The Deteriorating Subprime Mortgage Market

View Newsletter

Volume 11, Number 3 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

Investors are increasingly looking overseas for growth, yield, and diversification. As the commercial real estate capital market is ever more global in scale, PPR continues to broaden its scope beyond its already established coverage of the U.S. and Europe to Asia, beginning with a handful of the largest office markets in the region. Expansion into Asia will allow PPR to analyze global cities and put them on the same footing, across the three major regions of the investment universe. While PPR is in the midst of initiating coverage of several of the largest office markets in Asia, this paper will focus specifically on several Chinese cities, and their characteristics, performance, and place in a global portfolio.

For Clients: To download the full article, please click here. After you have logged in, click on Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist in the left-hand navigation bar to access the article.

Volume 11, Number 2 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

As investment volume soars and cap rates plummet, institutional investors are looking beyond the primary markets in the search for yield. Some have always invested in secondary markets and are casting an even keener eye on them today. As a result, PPR has expanded its coverage from the primary 54 markets to a total of 100 and now analyzes the full spectrum of markets from New York to Naples, FL! This paper will dig into the secondary markets, compare them to the primary 54 markets, and hopefully dispel some myths while also pointing out the risks that go along with investing in these smaller markets.

For Clients: To download the full article, please click here. After you have logged in, click on Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist in the left-hand navigation bar to access the article.

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases Year-End 2006 Data

View Press Release

Volume 11, Number 1 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

2006 proved to be another solid year for economic growth, and the commercial real estate markets certainly turned in another strong year of performance. However, the year can best be described as transitional, as momentum clearly began to slow throughout the year for most of the important indicators, including economic growth, vacancy rate declines, transaction volume, cap rate decreases, and even overall total returns. As we look ahead to 2007 and beyond, which of these trends will continue, which will dissipate, and more importantly, what new trends will become evident as the year progresses?

For Clients: To download the full article, please click here. After you have logged in, click on Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist in the left-hand navigation bar to access the article.

PPR Newsletter - Core Retail Sales Growth Unimpressive

View Newsletter

Volume 10, Number 6 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

As the dot-com bust becomes a more distant memory, the San Francisco Bay Area’s entrepreneurial optimism is once again driving growth there. Payrolls are growing, tech firms are hiring again, and office vacancy rates are falling throughout the region. Although it remains uncertain what "big thing" will define the next economic cycle, real estate capital in particular has demonstrated its belief in the Bay Area, as cap rates continue to fall. This heated investment climate certainly makes it more challenging to take full advantage of this market’s upside potential. Is the recovery there real, and are there still opportunities left in the Bay Area? The key to investing in the region is understanding what the next cycle means for the local space market and what submarkets are poised to benefit.

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases 3Q 2006 Forecasts

View Press Release

PPR Newsletter - Is the Condo Building Boom Over?

View Newsletter

Volume 10, Number 5 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

As the literal foundation upon which real estate sits, land not only underlies all real estate investments but also can be considered an asset class in and of itself. The premise underlying land investment is quite simple, although the investment in the asset class itself can be quite complex. Simply put, the basis of land investment is that economic growth in all its forms — population, employment, and income — increases the demand for land as the demand for new structures, whether they be homes, office buildings, retail centers, warehouses, or any other structure for that matter, grows. Land, however, differs from other real estate classes because its supply is fixed.

Given its significant role in all types of real estate investment, land investment is a surprisingly understudied subject. While the lack of voluminous data has limited the research, the relative lack of market transparency has also undoubtedly increased the land market’s inefficiency. Meanwhile, as a continually growing and changing population drives real estate development, land as the underlying asset of real estate development will play a critical role.

PPR Newsletter - It's Not the ARMs Consumers Will Trip Over

View Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE - PPR Launches Tier II Markets

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Launches European Warehouse Market Coverage

View Press Release

PPR Newsletter - Office Construction Sneaking Up and It's Not All Leased!

View Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Releases 2Q 2006 Forecasts

View Press Release

Volume 10, Number 4 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

The for-sale housing market has been a significant driver of U.S. economic and job growth over the past several years. Fueled in part by a willing Federal Reserve, nominal home prices soared at the fastest pace in 25 years. In turn, homeowners gleefully watched their home values swell, propelling a spike in retail sales growth.

Against the backdrop of this economic activity, the commercial real estate market has been an obvious beneficiary. Apartment values soared as condo converters gobbled up existing inventory in response to both consumer demand and speculative excess. Similarly, total returns for retail landlords surged as NOIs fattened and capital flooded into this asset class. Warehouse demand picked up considerably, and the office market has regained much of the luster it lost during the earlier part of the decade.

The housing market is slowing against the headwinds of higher mortgage rates and deteriorating affordability. Some housing-related industries are already making selective job cuts, and growth in retail sales is expected to moderate. What, then, are the implications for the health of the commercial real estate market? How would the four major property types perform within the context of a significant drop in home prices? Moreover, how will the real estate capital markets behave in such a scenario?

Volume 10, Number 3 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

The world of global property investment is getting smaller — so PPR is thinking bigger!

Real estate capital flows are increasingly global as investors (including many RE/PS readers) look outside their domestic borders for diversification, access to product, and perhaps most importantly today, hope for juicier returns. For this reason, PPR has ventured overseas as well — setting up a beachhead in London in order to bring the same objective insights and unconventional wisdom to the European property markets that investors have come to expect in the United States.

We’ve initiated our European service with coverage of 21 major European office markets — indeed, the office sector accounted for approximately 50% of total transactions in Europe over the past five years, so it’s certainly a reasonable place to start. But of course, our European invasion will not end there — we’re already hard at work on building forecasts for major European warehouse markets, and our eyes are also on residential and retail. And we plan to progressively widen our geographic scope. This is just the beginning of PPR’s quest to become the global source for objective, consistent real estate insights!

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Announces Appointment of Director of European Research

View Press Release

Listen to Bret Wilkerson on REITtalk — March 30, 2006

REITtalk Podcast

Volume 10, Number 2 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

The consumer has proven gluttonous, gobbling up retail goods at a record-setting pace. But should we be shocked at this frenzied spending given record-low interest rates and generous home price appreciation? Definitely not! Trouble is, the consumer has been running on home equity, and while some believe that home price appreciation will prove an infinitely renewable source of energy, they are sorely mistaken.

Speaking of energy, the prices at the pump hurt even before consumers got their first heating bills this winter. Meanwhile, rising interest rates will push payments on floating-rate debt higher. These forces will eventually push annual retail sales growth down from about 9.0% recently to an average of 4.7% per year through 2009.

So what does this mean for your retail real estate portfolio? The bad news is that retail sales growth is as good as it is going to get. The good news is that armed with the right information, you can still find productive retail strategies. This paper will show you how.

Volume 10, Number 1 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

2005 was a wild and mostly happy ride for U.S. real estate markets. It was the third straight year of strong GDP growth, and employers added 2.07 million jobs for a growth rate of 1.5%. Unemployment ended the year at 4.9%. Despite volatile and elevated energy prices, and dire warnings about a potential collapse in the housing market, the consumer remained strong through the holiday spending season. The economy weathered the impact of Hurricane Katrina and a Fed that hiked steadily.

The space markets showed real signs of strength as well. Vacancy rates fell in all four major property types. Leasing activity recovered, and new construction remained in check for the most part. There was even rent growth in office markets like Austin and San Francisco! As a result, buyers of buildings could finally see a real recovery and therefore underwrite more aggressively. Oceans of capital continued to flood into the asset class, buoying values. And real estate continued to provide that most precious of commodities, yield.

Whew. But that was last year — you are now making bets on 2006 and beyond. So PPR has pulled together our 25 biggest predictions for the coming year: one in which investing in commercial real estate won't get any easier.

PPR November 2005 Newsletter

SPECIAL EDITION - New Orleans 4-Pager

View 4-Pager Report

PRESS RELEASE: PPR and RCD Announce Third Jointly Produced Service

View Press Release

PPR October 2005 Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Launches European Service

View Press Release

PPR September 2005 Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: PPR and Algo COMPASS CRE Rates Construction Loans

View Press Release

Volume 9, Number 5 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

From May 12 to May 23rd, 2005, Susan was in China on a ULI Study Tour. The group visited Shanghai, Xi'an, and Beijing, studying real estate and cultural topics and sites. The group was excellent, the tour organization and leadership were excellent. A real eye-opener. Here's what she gleaned ...

Volume 9, Number 4 of Real Estate/Portfolio Strategist™

The national office market continues to experience improving demand and falling vacancies, and increasingly, rental rates are stabilizing — and even rising in some markets! With supply in check, for now, and the national economy growing, the outlook for office fundamentals is bright.

From a basic supply and demand perspective, it would seem that now is the time to load up on office. However, record capital flows have driven down cap rates nationwide, limiting the upside for office investments in this cycle. Furthermore, pricing has resulted in a dramatic increase in planned construction, raising the specter of a dramatic increase in development activity.

So is the window of opportunity for office investing closed? For some markets the answer is yes and for an increasingly large number of others, the window is certainly closing. However, if investors avoid markets over-loved by capital and move up the risk curve and buy vacancy (or buy wholesale and build vacancy!), the office market still presents an attractive opportunity.

PPR May 2005 Newsletter

PPR April 2005 Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: Giliberto-Levy Commercial Mortgage Performance Index Now Available through PPR

View Press Release

PPR March 2005 Newsletter

PRESS RELEASE: PPR Submarket Reports Now Available On Trepp.com

View Press Release

PRESS RELEASE: PPR and RCD Announce Strategic Relationship

View Press Release

PPR and Giliberto-Levy Commercial Mortgage Performance Index Announce Relationship

View Press Release

Fitch Risk & PPR Launch Jointly Developed U.S. Commercial Real Estate Model

Press Release
More information on COMPASS CRE

PPR Releases New Version of the PPR Submarket Service

Press Release

Paul Briggs and Beth Holzberger quoted in The Wall Street Journal

Paul Briggs and Beth Holzberger were recently quoted in The Wall Street Journal. The article, "Tenant Retention" discusses how landlords have been taking extra strides to accommodate their current tenants' growing need for additional space as well as the increasing amount of office construction in process. Since the demand for office space is not likely to substantially increase, Paul believes that the large amount of office space in the final-planning stage of the pipeline is cause for concern. Beth reiterates that notion when discussing the Tampa, Indianapolis, and Chicago markets, as they too, face the "potential threat" of overbuilding.

Susan Hudson-Wilson quoted in Real Estate Finance & Investment

Susan Hudson-Wilson was recently quoted in Real Estate Finance & Investment. The article, "Concerns Permeate CMSA Confab" discusses the concern felt at CMSA's 10th Annual Convention regarding lower subordination levels, the erosion of lending standards, and structural safeguards. Susan kicked off the conference with a discussion of interest rates stating, "If you think rates are rising for bad reasons you will want to sell real estate quick like a bunny and wait for the crash until you get back in. You have to declare your hand and play it accordingly."

George Pappadopoulos quoted in Real Estate Finance & Investment

George Pappadopoulos was recently quoted in Real Estate Finance & Investment. The article, "Commercial Mortgages Sustain Performance" discusses that despite deterioration in fundamentals, commercial real estate loans continue to perform well. George also states that delinquencies in the current cycle are quite small in comparison to those of the downturn cycles in the 1980's and early 1990's.

Kelly Whitman and Hans Nordby published in The RMA Journal

The RMA Journal. Their article, "The Sector Specter: Retail and Warehouse," discusses the status of both the retail and warehouse sectors in relation to today's economy. The retail sector has performed well in recent years and appears to be well poised for strong returns as the economy rebounds. In contrast, the warehouse sector has been adversely affected by the recent recession and economic slowdown. However, in mid-2004 and beyond, the warehouse sector does appear to be well poised for attractive returns.

George Pappadopoulos published in The RMA Journal

George Pappadopoulos was recently published in the June 2004 edition of the Real Estate Quantified section in The RMA Journal. His article "An Opportunity That Should Not Be Missed" explores the lack of a performance benchmark for commercial bank CRE (Commercial Real Estate) lending. Whereas the CMBS industry has a wealth of performance information available to the public, the CRE industry does not. Later on in the article, however, George discusses that a more appropriate database for CRE loans is currently in process. The database is conducted by the RMA (The Risk Management Association) in conjunction with seven key commercial real estate lenders. The objective of the database is to deliver practical information that can be used to better assess risk ratings and to strategically manage the real estate portfolio.

Paul Briggs Quoted on www.bizjournals.com

Paul Briggs, a PPR Real Estate Economist, was recently quoted on www.bizjournals.com. The article by Mary K. Pratt, "Hub Real Estate Keeps Its Hold on International Investors," discusses the international appeal that Boston's real estate market has in the eyes of foreign investors. Paul states that while Boston is one of the top institutional markets for real estate, it is not yet a top-tier market for international investors. It does, however, have increasing international interest and is a market with a lot of potential.

Kelly Whitman Quoted in The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Kelly Whitman, a PPR Real Estate Economist, was recently quoted in The Atlanta Journal Constitution. The article by Renee Degross, "New-style Malls Abandon the Roof" examines how the new trend in retail building to build single level "lifestyle centers" or open-air facilities, versus huge multi-level malls of the past. The lifestyle center creates a small-town atmosphere, and also adds an element of outdoor freedom to the shopper. Kelly states that since younger shoppers grew up with stores such as Target, Kohl's, and Walmart, they are likely to shop at the up-and-coming lifestyle centers.

Property & Portfolio Research Launches PPR Trades

View Press Release

PPR Featured Monthly in Commercial Property News

PPR is featured monthly in Commercial Property News, along with Claritas, Jones Lang LaSalle, Standard & Poor's, and the National Real Estate Index. PPR's data and charts can be found in the "Leasing Outlook" and "Directions in Development" subsections of the TrendWatch Data Trends page.

Bret Wilkerson and Peter Hobbs Published in The Capital Guide to Alternative Investment

Bret Wilkerson and Peter Hobbs have recently authored a chapter, entitled "Real Estate - Becoming Mainstream?," in The Capital Guide to Alternative Investment. Throughout the chapter, Wilkerson and Hobbs examine key characteristics and options for real estate investing. The chapter focuses on the U.S. real estate market, and in addition provides an overview of the global real estate market.

View Chapter
Purchase Entire Book

Suzanne Mulvee Quoted in the National Real Estate Investor

Suzanne Mulvee, a PPR Real Estate Economist, was recently quoted in the National Real Estate Investor. The article by Fran LeFort, "Apartment Research Remains at Odds," discusses two apartment industry reports that offer conflicting views. The first report by Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc., suggests that REITs are showing no signs of recovery in 2004, and even if there were immediate significant job growth, no meaningful impact would be felt until 2005. In contrast, the NMHC (National Multi Housing Council) believes that the apartment market is improving and that 2004 is a stabilizing year, whereas 2005 will be the year for recovery. According to Suzanne, the apartment market is so overbuilt right now that the recovery is going to take a while and that rent growth will not occur until 2005.

PPR's London Office — New Address

As of February 2, 2004, PPR's London office will have a new address. The new contact details are as follows:

Berkshire House, 6th Floor
168/173 High Holborn
London
WC1V 7AA

U.K. Tel: 44 (0) 20 7420 0370
U.S. Tel: 1 617 426 4446
Mobile: 44 (0) 79 4747 1847
U.K. Fax: 44 (0) 20 7420 0399

Property & Portfolio Research Releases Apartment Submarket Forecasts

View Press Release

PPR and NAR featured on RisMedia.com

The National Association of Realtors (NAR) Commercial Real Estate Quarterly study was recently featured in an article on RisMedia.com. The article "Economy Will Give Boost to Commercial Real Estate in 2004," states that occupancy rates in the multifamily, office, retail and warehouse markets are expected to improve gradually over the next two years. NAR's study is produced with data provided by PPR, which includes rankings and forecasts for 54 markets.

Fitch Ratings and PPR Model featured in Real Estate Finance and Investment

A jointly developed model by Fitch Ratings and PPR was recently featured in Real Estate Finance and Investment. The model measures risk through a sample of defaulted and non-defaulted commercial loans. Though the model is in its early stages of development and marketing, enhancements are being developed, which will perhaps transform the current desktop application into an online system, or a service provided through other venues.

PPR Named as one of the "Top Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts"

Babson College and The Commonwealth Institute have announced the results of their "Top Women-Led Businesses in Massachusetts" rankings for 2002. PPR, led by founder and CEO Susan Hudson-Wilson, ranked as number 51 out of more than 100 women-led businesses selected. To download the research report, which includes the study and a complete listing of the Top 100 Woman-led Businesses in Massachusetts, please click below.

View the article "CMBS Performance in a Rising Interest Rate Environment", written by Wachovia's Davis Cable, Brian P. Lancaster, and PPR's George Pappadopoulos

View Article

For more information contact us or call 617-426-4446

Username:
Password:
Forgot password?