Urban World to Change the Future What is old is new again as the world shifts its focus once more toward urban centers, according to the McKinsey Global Institute. Three demographic groups are set to generate 50 percent of all global urban consumption growth through 2030. Foremost is the retiring and

Canada’s Big Deal German billionaire Klaus-Michael Kuehne has reportedly bought one of Vancouver’s prize office towers, the 36-story Royal Centre, for about CA$425 million, or CA$725 psf, from Brookfield Office Properties. The deal traded at a 3.7 cap rate, according to The Financial Post,

Auto Parts Drive Net Lease Market Auto parts stores remain in high demand by net lease investors in the $2 million and under sales category, according to The Boulder Group. Small investors favor auto parts stores over dollar stores because they tend to be located in primary and secondary markets near bigg

China's Big Deal Chinese investors' love affair with U.S. hotels continues, as China's Anbang Insurance Group - owner of New York's Waldorf Astoria - has agreed to buy Strategic Hotels & Resorts for around $6.5 billion, from the Blackstone Group, which just acquired it last December for around $6 bill

Midwest Sam Zell's Big Deal Does Sam Zell know something the rest of us don't? Obviously he knows more about making money, but whether he's prescient about market timing remains to be seen. Equity Residential's sell-off of a 23,262-unit apartment portfolio for $5.37 billion to Starwood Capital caused s

East Boston’s Big Deal Boston traversed the $1,000 psf mark for office properties last fall when JP Morgan Chase and Oxford Properties Group closed on the $1.3 billion sale of two Back Bay office buildings, 500 Boylston St. and 222 Berkeley St., purchased from Blackstone Group. The 1.3

Global financial market volatility is boosting  investment in U.S. properties, encouraging many to focus on capital preservation and asset stability rather than yield. Rather than the flashy sales often reported, most international acquisitions are smaller assets  purchased through funds and domestic intermediaries. Yet the totals are impressive at more than $90 billion of commercial real estate purchases in 2015, accounting for  17 percent of the market volume. Due to the strength of the U.S. dollar, international buyers comprised 11 percent of all U.S. properties in the first half of 2016, according to Marcus & Millichap.

India's Big Deal Office space absorption in India's major cities rose at the blistering pace of 46 percent, or 10.2 msf, from April to June 2016. New Delhi and Bangalore accounted for almost 50 percent of the office space, according to CBRE. Despite a muted global economy, India continues to be a preferre

Coworking:  Not for Entrepreneurs Only?  Coworking is a trend that has received a lot of press in the past year, but does it have the legs to remake the office market? Several indications point to a growing consideration of the office-sharing option both by the entrepreneurial class and the corporate offi

Mid-Atlantic New York City's Big Deal An affiliate of the Hyatt Hotels has sold the Andaz Fifth Avenue New York Hotel in Midtown Manhattan to Takenaka Corp., a Japanese architecture, engineering, and construction company with capital estimated at 50 billion yen, for $215.2 million - one of the largest

London's Big Deal London's office space market is about to get a whole lot bigger with 51 new developments starting construction in the six-month period from October 2015 to March this year. It's the highest level of construction in 20 years, according to Deloitte Real Estate's London Office Crane surv

Beyond Amenities Multifamily property owner Castle Lanterra is offering a tenant scholarship program to residents in six of its properties across the country. The firm owns nearly $850 million in multifamily properties across the country. High school seniors and those enrolled in two and four-year college

U.S. industrial markets absorbed 74.9 msf in the third quarter of 2016, rising 29.1 percent compared to third quarter of 2015, according to Cushman & Wakefield. To date, the industrial sector has posted 26 consecutive quarters of net occupancy gains. “The indicators we monitor, such as containerized traffic, transportation indices, and consumer confidence, are still trending in a positive direction, which should continue to translate into robust industrial leasing activity,” says Kevin Thorpe, global chief economist at Cushman & Wakefield in Washington, D.C.

Investment is booming in San Francisco | Uber and Lyft ride sharing affects CRE sector | Nashville hotel rates grow with increase in tourism | Low oil prices and bigger business profits | Construction in Chicago is big | Boston's warehouses drive vibrant industrial market | Twin Cities multi-tenant market fundamentals continue improvement