Real Estate News, Trends and Analysis
Real Estate News, Trends and Analysis
DEALS Hines Forming Third Public REIT, Seeking to Raise $2.5 Billion
CoStar Group; September 18, 2013
TRENDS AND ANALYSIS Blackstone Seeks IPOs as Hotel Sales Climb: Real Estate
Wall Street Journal; September 12, 2013
Hines Interests LP is going back to the U.S. stock markets to raise funds for new globally focused investment REIT. Hines Global REIT II Inc. has filed registration paperwork to raise up to $2.5 billion to invest in a diversified portfolio of commercial real estate properties and other real estate investments throughout the United States and internationally. This would be Hines third publicly offered REIT [READ MORE]
Private-equity firms are accelerating sales of hotels to take advantage of a recovery in U.S. lodging demand and stock prices close to record highs. Hotel-property transactions jumped 47 percent to $14.1 billion this year through July in the U.S., according to Real Capital Analytics Inc [READ MORE]
Real estate, once again, can be found at the head of South Floridas economic pack. New output numbers released Tuesday show real estate as the No. 1 contributor to economic growth last year, accounting for 31 cents of every new dollar added to the tri-county areas $274 billion economy. Overall, the economy grew by 3.5 percent, the sharpest increase since 2006 and well ahead of the national metropolitan average of 2.5 percent [READ MORE]
The Westfield Group, seeking to dispose of non-core assets to fund new development, has agreed to sell a majority interest in another seven U.S. shopping centers to an affiliate of Starwood Capital Group for $1.64 billion. Sydney, Australia-based Westfield will retain a 10% stake in the malls in California, Ohio, Washington state and Indiana totaling more than 7.9 million leasable square feet. [READ MORE]
MIAMIMultifamily mortgage loan provider Greystone just closed a $117 million transaction in Georgia. WWJ, LLC an affiliate of Boyd Management, secured the financing for the acquisition and rehabilitation of 44affordable housing properties with 1,362 units that serve low-income households in 30 counties across the state. Domain Apartment Property Sells for $103M [READ MORE]
The Twin Cities economy grew at its fastest pace in nearly a decade last year, and real estate was the big driver. The U.S. Commerce Department reported Tuesday that real GDP, the total value of goods and services adjusted for inflation, grew by 3.9 percent, adding more than $7 billion in economic activity. Almost a third of the growth was in real estate, rentals and leasing, thanks to an improved housing market and low rental vacancy [READ MORE]