Realty News Report Covering Commercial and Residential News

(By Dale King) WASHINGTON, D.C. – If slow and steady is the formula for winning races, America’s real estate market will likely break a few finish line tapes in the closing years of this decade. But a general slowdown in market growth may be part of the economic order for the next few years. The Urban Land Institute (ULI) used ... Read More »

The Trulia organization reported that Houston led the nation last year with a 16.2 average gain in apartment rents. But Houston’s not alone. There are rent hikes more to come in 2013, for most markets in the nation, according to new projection released by The MORE Group. The MORE Group is projecting overall nationwide apartment rental rate increases of 3 to ... Read More »

SAN FRANCISCO – Wells Real Estate Investment Trust II has acquired 333 Market Street, a 33-story office tower in the heart of San Francisco’s Financial District. The Class A asset was purchased from the Korean Federation of Community Credit Cooperatives.  The 657,000-sf building, constructed in 1979, has undergone over $80 million in capital investments and tenant improvements over the past ... Read More »

By Ralph Bivins DENVER – The consensus emerging from the National Association of Real Estate Editors 46th annual conference is the real estate market has stabilized and is recovering from its ugly slide that began about four years ago. “You’re going to see an excellent housing recovery,” said Margaret Kelly, chief executive officer of Re/Max, in a speech to the ... Read More »

MADISON, N.J. — A 280,000-sfoot building is being constructed in Madison, N.J. to serve as the headquarters of Realogy, the parent company of Century 21, ERA, Coldwell Banker and Better Homes & Gardens. Realogy, one of the biggest names in residential real estate, has a total 253,000 sales associates doing business in 101 countries around the world under its various ... Read More »

Despite problems plaguing the U.S. housing market such as tumbling values, record foreclosures, and tight credit for buyers, 74% of Americans believe home buying is a good investment. And 81% said it’s still part of the American dream according to a new survey from Yahoo! Real Estate.  The survey, which polled 1,500 current and aspiring homeowners, plus renters, found that while ... Read More »

By Ralph Bivins ANAHEIM, Calif. — The nation’s residential realty market is improving, but it may be two or three years or so until the market is completely healthy again, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. Existing-home sales are forecast to increase about 1 percent in 2011, and then rise another 4 to 5 ... Read More »

HOUSTON – Greystar, has purchased a 6-acre tract near the Galleria in Houston for future development. Greystar bought the land, located at 3315 Barrington at Richmond Avenue in the Galleria area from Houston Independent School District for $9.7 million. John L. Guess III of the Guess Group and Doug Elliott of CB Richard Ellis represented the seller. Greystar Vice President ... Read More »

ANAHEIM, Calif. — A majority of the commercial real estate sectors are still experiencing rising absorption and little improvement in rents, according to Lawrence Yun, chief economist for the National Association of Realtors. The multifamily apartment sector remains the strongest with net absorption rates increasing and vacancies decreasing, causing rents to rise across the country, said Yun, who was speaking ... Read More »

ANAHEIM – Rental rates will rise about 3 percent annually over the next three years, predicted Lawrence Yun, chief economist of the National Association of Realtors. Yun, speaking Friday at the annual NAR convention, predicted a slow, gradual recovery for the nation’s housing market. HOUSTON — – Hines, the international real estate firm, announced that John Favreau has joined the firm ... Read More »

HOUSTON – HFF  has closed the sale of a 16-property self storage portfolio in Connecticut, New York and Pennsylvania. HFF and Louis Perfetto, Esq. of the law firm Cohen & Perfetto LLP, represented the seller, Storage Deluxe.  CubeSmart purchased the entire portfolio for $357.31 million.  The HFF investment sales team representing Storage Deluxe was led by senior managing director Aaron ... Read More »

ATLANTA – A new downtown office tower has been proposed by developers  Bob Voyles and David Marvin, according to a report by OKCReview.com. It would be the first new office project to be built in downtown Atlanta since 2007. Known as 285 Marietta, the developers say the new $150 million building, complete with proposed ground-floor video billboards, would be geared ... Read More »