Have The Commercial Real Estate Stocks Bounced Too Far In February?

by Chart School - March 1st, 2010 2:23 pm

Have The Commercial Real Estate Stocks Bounced Too Far In February? (NYSE:SPG), (NYSE:VNO), (NYSE:IY)

By Nicholas Santiago at InTheMoneyStocks

In late December 2009, one of the clues that the major stock indexes were going to decline in the month of January 2010 was the commercial real estate stocks. Leading commercial real estate stocks such as Vornado Realty Trust (NYSE:VNO), and Simon Property Group (NYSE:SPG) headed the rally in 2009 and forshadowed the decline January 2010.

Many traders and investors have thought throughout 2009 that commercial real estate was going to be the next shoe to drop on the stock market. However, that was not the case in 2009 as these stocks not only held up well, but, actually outperformed. In late December 2009 these stocks started to show weakness. The ishares Dow Jones Real Estate ETF (NYSE:IYR), which is a basket of many different real estate companies rolled over at the same time and confirmed that the January decline was industry specific and not company specific.

Now we are back at interesting levels again for most of these commercial real estate stocks. Currently the February move higher has been nothing short of impressive for commercial real estate and the overall stock indexes. However, it has lacked several factors for a sustaining rally. Many of these stocks in this commercial real estate group are trading below their daily 50 moving average. This is something that many institutional traders watch very closely. Then the volume on this rally in February has been somewhat on the weak side. This is also another sign that many institutional traders will take note of. The last factor that we have noticed is that this industry group is now trading into good retracement levels which will usually serve as good resistance area.

These stocks and this sector have been excellent stock market barometers over the past year. The commercial real estate sector is now nearing a very important level. If these stocks start to fall soon the overall market may not be too far behind. Today these stocks are behaving just fine, however, this type of action could change on a dime and might be worth monitoring.

Elizabeth Warren on the Coming Commercial Real Estate Crisis; 3000 Community Banks at Risk

by ilene - February 28th, 2010 1:12 am

Elizabeth Warren on the Coming Commercial Real Estate Crisis; 3000 Community Banks at Risk

Courtesy of Mish

Here are a couple of stories similar to thousands playing out across the country, and tens of thousands more to come. The second article gets to the heart of the upcoming commercial real estate bust.

The Minneapolis Star Tribune is reporting Brookdale Mall sold at auction for big markdown.

A sheriff’s foreclosure auction produced just one bid — from the mall’s mortgage-holders, who bid $12.5 million.

Photo By Glen Stubbe, Star Tribune

Brookdale Center went on the auction block at a sheriff’s foreclosure sale Friday, netting just one bid of $12.5 million from the shopping mall’s lenders.

The bid from Brookdale Mall HH LLC was well below the $51.8 million owed on a $54.2 million mortgage by the property’s owners, Brooks Mall Properties of Coral Gables, Fla.

Sears is its sole remaining anchor. In the last couple of years Macy’s, Barnes & Noble and Mervyn’s have all closed their stores. The mall also has lost other key tenants, such as Steve & Barry’s. Almost 60 percent of its space is vacant, according to recent figures from NorthMarq.

Commercial Real Estate Crisis Coming

The following story headline masquerades as a local (D.C.) problem but the real story buried in the article is a few select quotes from Elizabeth Warren.

Please consider In D.C., more evidence that commercial real estate headed for foreclosure crisis.

A mortgage crisis like the one that has devastated homeowners is enveloping the nation’s office and retail buildings, and few places are likely to be hit as hard as Washington.

The foreclosure wave is likely to swamp many smaller community banks across the country, and many well-known properties, including Washington’s Mayflower Hotel and the Boulevard at the Capital Centre in Largo, are at risk, industry analysts say.

"There’s been an enormous bubble in commercial real estate, and it has to come down," said Elizabeth Warren, chairman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, the watchdog created by Congress to monitor the financial bailout. "There will be significant bankruptcies among developers and significant failures among community banks."

Nearly 3,000 community banks — 40 percent of the banking system — have a high proportion of commercial real estate loans relative to their capital, said Warren, whose committee issued a report on commercial real estate last week. "Every dollar they lose in commercial real estate is a dollar they can’t use for small businesses," she said. Individuals — who saw their home values drop…

9,500 Shuttered Stores In Sacramento Area: “Everyone Perfectly Content With Less”

by ilene - February 15th, 2010 10:39 pm

9,500 Shuttered Stores In Sacramento Area: "Everyone Perfectly Content With Less"

Courtesy of Mish

Before taking a closeup look at Sacramento, please consider a snapshot of commercial real estate in general. MarketWatch is reporting Commercial mortgage failures threaten system: overseer.

Over the next few years, a wave of commercial real-estate loan failures could threaten America’s financial system, and in the worst case scenario, hundreds of additional community and midsize banks could face insolvency, a congressional watchdog group said Thursday.

According to a report by the Congressional Oversight Panel, a watchdog group for a $700 billion bank-bailout package, about $1.4 trillion in commercial real-estate loans will reach the end of their terms between 2010 and 2014, of which nearly half are now under water (that is, the borrower owes more than the underlying property is currently worth).

The report added that losses from commercial loans could range as high as $200 billion to $300 billion.

As a result, it said, banks that suffer from the losses or are discouraged by the economic future could become even more reluctant to lend, which could reduce access to credit for more businesses and families, accelerating a negative economic cycle.

"The Congressional Oversight Panel is deeply concerned that commercial loan losses could jeopardize the stability of many banks, particularly the nation’s midsize and smaller banks, and that as the damage spreads beyond individual banks, that it will contribute to prolonged weakness throughout the economy," said the report, which was approved unanimously by the five-member COP.

Commercial real estate woes are everywhere you look, but Sacramento, California is ground zero of the ongoing bust. It will take years if not a decade to fill vacant businesses in greater Sacramento.

The Sacramento Bee notes the sad state of affairs in Region’s shuttered stores tell a thousand stories.

An empty shell occupies 9,500 addresses across the Sacramento region – one closed business for every six still open, according to a Bee analysis of U.S. Postal Service data. That’s more dormant businesses than in 17 entire states, including Utah, Arkansas and New Mexico.

You can see it on Madison Avenue in Fair Oaks, where Mike Castagnola is liquidating his party supply store, counting down the final days on a business with a 30-year run.

And it’s vivid along Main Street in Woodland, where Jill Caunedo happily ran a bagel and coffee shop – until about two weeks ago. "Thirty percent of all the businesses (on Main Street) are vacant," Caunedo said, adding that…

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Employment, Foreclosures, Housing Market, Jobs, unemployment

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The trouble with commercial real estate

by ilene - February 12th, 2010 2:36 am

The trouble with commercial real estate

Courtesy of Tim Iacono at The Mess That Greenspan

Elizabeth Warren, Chairwoman of the Congressional Oversight Panel, talks about the ongoing troubles that community banks are having with commercial real estate loans as detailed in the panel’s latest report on the subject released earlier today - the outlook isn’t good.

The discussion that begins at about the 3:10 mark is pretty interesting as Fox Business News host David Asman references big Wall Street banks "having their arms twisted" to take TARP money in late-2008, a view with which Warren disagrees vehemently (I’m pretty sure she disagreed vehemently there but, admittedly, it was hard to tell).

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Elizabeth Warren, TARP, Wall Street banks

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Demand For Loans Weakens Again In Fed Senior Loan Survey

by ilene - February 2nd, 2010 9:08 am

Demand For Loans Weakens Again In Fed Senior Loan Survey

Courtesy of Mish

While the incessant drumbeat that "banks aren’t lending" continues, the real story once again is that demand for loans continues to drop. Please consider the January 2010 Senior Loan Officer Opinion Survey on Bank Lending Practices.

The January survey indicated that commercial banks generally ceased tightening standards on many loan types in the fourth quarter of last year but have yet to unwind the considerable tightening that has occurred over the past two years. The net percentages of banks reporting tighter loan terms continued to trend lower. Banks reported that loan demand from both businesses and households weakened further, on net, over the survey period.

For many major loan categories covered by the survey, the net percentages of respondents that tightened standards in the fourth quarter of 2009 were close to zero. However, banks continued to tighten a number of terms on loans to both businesses and households, although the net fractions of banks that reported doing so in the January survey generally stepped down again. Banks’ policies on CRE lending were an exception, as large net fractions of respondents further tightened their credit standards during the final quarter of last year. In addition, banks reported that they had tightened terms on CRE loans substantially over the past year.

Demand from both businesses and households for all major categories of loans weakened further, on net, over the past three months. The net fractions of banks that reported weaker demand for business loans continued to decline, while changes in the comparable readings on demand for loans to households were mixed.

Other than Commercial Real Estate, which is plagued by vacancies and falling rents, there was no change in lending standards. With that fact in mind, let’s once again investigate the charge "banks aren’t lending".

Here is the survey question on page 23: "4. Apart from normal seasonal variation, how has demand for C&I loans changed over the past three months?" followed by the table of responses.

Demand for C&I loans from large and middle-market firms

click on chart for sharper image

Demand for C&I loans from small firms (annual sales of less than $50 million)

click on chart for sharper image

Please look at that last chart carefully. It represents demand for small business loans (firms with annual sales of less than $50 million).

Across all banks, demand for loans was modestly weaker by 31.5 percent of respondents and substantially weaker at 1.9%…

US Commercial Real Estate a Multi-Trillion Dollar Bloodbath in Progress

by ilene - January 16th, 2010 7:09 pm

US Commercial Real Estate a Multi-Trillion Dollar Bloodbath in Progress

Courtesy of Jesse’s Café Américain

Residential Real Estate in the US is in serious trouble, and a drag on the real economy. And yet it is holding up a bit because the Fed is buying over $1 Trillion in mortgage debt, presumably at artficially high prices to support it, and of course the too big to fail Wall Street Banks who were wallowing in the residential real estate bubble.

Commercial Real Estate is much worse, a bloodbath in progress. Down 42% and dropping with store, office and apartment vacancies soaring. And much of that paper is held by regional banks and REITs like Boston Properties (BXP), Vornado Realty Trust (VNO), Brookfield Properties (BPO), and a host of private firms and trusts.

Like the residential market, the pain in commercial real estate is not distributed evenly across geographic regions. So far the public equities have recovered reasonably after a breathtaking plunge, as compared to the SP 500’s decline from the top. I am watching them for an indication or at least a confirmation of a double dip, a potential next leg down in the real economy and the financial markets.

I hope Ben is wearing a truss if he tries to put a floor under this one.

At least the rental market will be more economical for the foreclosed homeowners, but its hard to see who will be opening new retail stores and commercial businesses in the near future.

My Budget 360
Commercial Real Estate Is $3.5 Trillion Time Bomb Hitting the Economy

Some of you are probably not aware that the commercial real estate market has crossed a dreaded line in the sand. Commercial real estate (CRE) that includes apartments, industrial, office, and retail space is now performing worse than residential real estate. Not just by a little but by a good amount. While the CRE bust took about a year longer than the residential housing bust, once problems started hitting in this market prices have been steadily collapsing. At the peak, it was estimated that CRE values hit $6.5 trillion in the country. With $3.5 trillion in CRE debt outstanding, this seemed to provide a nice equity buffer. That buffer is now erased.

First we, need to examine the actual decline in CRE values by looking at data gathered by MIT:

Putting together all CRE values we find that the market has fallen by a significant 42 percent. Now assuming…

Tags: Boston Properties (BXP), Brookfield Properties (BPO), commercial businesses, Commercial Real Estate, CRE bust, REITs, rental market, Residential Real Estate, the Federal Reserve, Vornado Realty Trust (VNO)

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Bearish Sentiment At 22-Year Low

by ilene - January 5th, 2010 4:01 am

Bearish Sentiment At 22-Year Low

Courtesy of Adam Sharp’s Bearish News

The latest sentiment reading by Investors Intelligence shows a disturbing trend. Only 15.6% of financial newsletters are currently bearish on equities.

Last time the bearish indicator was this low was April 1987. A few months later (Black Monday) the DJIA dropped 21% in a single day:

In other words – when everything seems peachy — watch out. Turns out that peaks and troughs in investor sentiment are pretty good contra-indicators. Bullish sentiment tends to peak as bubbles are near their top, and vice versa.

From the revamped and newly Bloombergesque Business Week:

Pessimism about U.S. stocks among newsletter writers fell to the lowest level since April 1987, six months before the equity market crash known as Black Monday, following the biggest rally in the Standard & Poor’s 500 Index in seven decades.

The proportion of bearish publications among about 140 tracked by Investors Intelligence fell to 15.6 percent yesterday from 16.7 percent a week earlier. Sentiment has improved since October 2008, when the financial crisis drove the figure to a 14-year high of 54.4 percent. After plunging 38 percent in 2008, the S&P 500 has risen 25 percent this year.

This is not to say markets wont’ run again in 2010. Irrational bull markets can last much longer than you’d think. The momentum they build up is impossible to fight. Gotta wait for that to break before getting seriously short. Example – After the bearish-sentiment index bottomed in 1987, the market rallied another 14% before crashing.

Smart investors like Bill Fleckenstein have been highlighting the credit bubble since the mid-1990’s. And today markets are more irrational than ever. Government intervention is preventing market cycles from proceeding like never before.

Industries like housing, banking, and commercial real estate have become completely dependent on government support. Their future (and that of our currency) depend on whether our leaders will extend or end this support. It’s a ludicrous, manipulated market.

So far America’s leaders have repeatedly demonstrated that they have zero tolerance for economic pain. Their support for the financial markets seems unlimited, no matter the long-term cost. I don’t see that changing without something drastic hapenning – another huge round of bailouts, a shift in the political landscape, or something else.

Earnings Distorted, Bloated

Earnings, as officially reported, are less and less reflective of a company’s real income.. Today’s earnings are nothing less than a rosy version of what they “should of been, had not…

Tags: Banking, Bearish Sentiment, Black Monday, Commercial Real Estate, contra-indicators, government intervention, Housing, Investors Intelligence, market cycles, rally, Stock Market

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Vietnam Halts Gold Trading; Global Imbalances Mount

by ilene - January 1st, 2010 8:43 pm

Vietnam Halts Gold Trading; Global Imbalances Mount

Courtesy of Mish

Citing speculation and excessive leverage Vietnam to put an end to gold trading.

January 1 2010

Vietnam has ordered all gold trading floors to close by the end of March, putting an end to a business which turns over $1bn a day but which the government feared was spinning out of control.

“Both the owners of the gold-trading floors and traders are doing their transactions on a fragile foundation that lacks legal, economic and technical frameworks and knowledge,” the government said in a statement.

The order also bans using overseas accounts, but does not affect jewelery or retail gold sales.

The government said it was particularly concerned that some investors had been drawn into overleveraging their positions by low interest rates and the ever-increasing price of gold , which has risen from $660/oz when the first trading floor was started in 2007 to almost $1,100/oz today.

The government said that in some cases, investors had only been required to put up 7 per cent of the value of their portfolio.

The regulation will affect around 20 gold trading floors, but it is unclear if the government is intending to re-write the regulations and allow the floors to re-open or if the move is long-term.

The trade has become a lucrative source of income for many of the banks and trading houses which have opened the exchanges, and the ban could hit profits. But analysts say it could free up liquidity that might flow back into the stock markets, lifting the index.

Dong Devalued

In November, Vietnam devalues the dong and raises rates

November 26 2009
Vietnam devalued its currency by 5.4 per cent against the dollar yesterday and raised interest rates by a full percentage point in an effort to cut inflation and underpin the beleaguered dong.

The dong has come under pressure recently as inflation started climbing and domestic demand, driven by the country’s $8bn stimulus programme, drove the current account deficit to close to $2bn a month.

"The decision poses further challenges to the central bank’s credibility," said Tai Hui, Standard Chartered Bank economist. "The risk is that local investors will pay little attention to official comments going forward, which may exacerbate devaluation pressure on the currency."

For weeks, the government had insisted that it would not give in to pressure on the dong. "Vietnam will not devalue our currency," Nguyen Minh Triet, president, said in Singapore last week. "We will take cautious steps…

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, global imbalances, gold trading, japan, Mish, Vietnam

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What’s Really Happening in Real Estate

by ilene - December 30th, 2009 12:59 am

See also my recent interview with a real estate developer whose thoughts are similar to those expressed in Michael’s article below. - Ilene

What’s Really Happening in Real Estate

Courtesy of Michael Panzner at Financial Armageddon

Vacancy Rates On Manhattan Commercial Space Rise Sharply

My friend George Ure, publisher of Urban Survival (and a related blog of the same name), as well as the Peoplenomics subscription newsletter, has posted an eye-opening commentary, "Coping: With What No One Wants To Say" (excerpted below), detailing industry insiders’ perspectives on what is really happening in the real estate market.

While the news that things aren’t getting any better in CRE and RRE won’t be much of a surprise to those who’ve actually been paying attention, it would seem to represent further evidence that the "experts" and powers that be in Washington and on Wall Street (along with their enablers in the mainstream media) are either liars, fools, or crack addicts — or some combination of all three:

Every so often, a group of major real estate developers get together for a conference where folks try to look ahead. In order to protect my source, I won’t tell you which real estate/developer conference it was, but I’ve been given permission by my source to post this high-level view of what the people who put up real dough to develop properties are seeing. This is the info that I talked about with Jeff Rense on his radio program last night — Read it and weep:

"This week I attended the [serious players] fall conference. [serious players] is the top real estate industry group in the world. All the most senior people in the industry.

1. Not one expert was willing to predict what things will look like in 3 years other than they think it will be better.

2. One top economist said if you are a developer find another career for the next 3 years-there is nothing to do and it may be 5 years.

3. Recovery will be slow. Unemployment will not drop back to more normal levels until 2014. First they will bring back people on 4 day weeks to 5 days, then they will increase hours form the average 33 hours now, then part timers will become more full time, then they will start to hire.

4. Real estate values are down generally 40% and there is a huge need for value reset to occur.

5. Nobody knows what debt will look like when it returns other than it will be far more conservative. Nobody…

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, Economy, housing markets, Politics, Rating Agencies, real estate developers, real estate loans, Recession, unemployment, vacancies

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The Age of Deleveraging

by ilene - December 19th, 2009 8:10 pm

The Age of Deleveraging

Courtesy of John Mauldin at Thoughts From The Frontline

Fortuneteller's Hands Above Crystal Ball

This is the season when pundits feel compelled to make annual forecasts. I will make mine, as I traditionally do, in the first letter of January. But already we have seen a wide range of forecasted outcomes. Are we going to grow at 5-6% or at 1-2% or dip back into recession? Why such disparity? I think part of the reason is a basic disagreement on the nature of the just-lapsed recession. Today we explore that issue. Then I point you to a way to help those who are desperately in need and only wish they had our problems. For those interested, I enclose a picture of my new granddaughter.

And finally, I start the process of getting ready, after ten years, to actually buy some stocks. Yes, it is true. Am I throwing in the towel and becoming a bull, or do I just see an opportunity? Stay tuned.

It’s All About Deleveraging

I did a very interesting one-hour show this week with Tom Ashbrook on his National Public Radio syndicated radio show called On Point. About 20 minutes into the show, Professor Jeremy Siegel of Wharton came on, and we had a pleasant debate and lively Q and A with listeners. Jeremy of course was the bull, expecting that next year the US will grow by 5-6%. I was the "bear," expecting growth in the 1-2% range. You can listen in at http://www.onpointradio.org/2009/12/an-economic-warning. It’s also available as a podcast on iTunes ("On Point with Tom Ashbrook") for a few more days.

I have liked Jeremy the times we have been on the same platform, and we have traded emails over the past few years. He is a consummate gentleman. He is also the author of Stocks for the Long Run. His thesis is buy and hold. Long-time readers know that I find such thinking to be wrong, if not dangerous. I believe that stocks go in long cycles (an average of 17 years) based on valuations, and that we are still in a long-term secular bear phase. I want to see valuations come way down before I suggest that the index-investing waters are once again safe. That day will come. Just not for a while.

In the meantime, Jeremy has given us the reason for his very bullish call. Paraphrasing, he said, "Look at past recoveries from recessions. They were always strong…

Tags: Commercial Real Estate, deleveraging, Economy, John Mauldin

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Have The Commercial Real Estate Stocks Bounced Too Far In February? (NYSE:SPG), (NYSE:VNO), (NYSE:IY)

It’s All About Deleveraging

By Andrew Wilkinson

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