E-commerce retail sales helped to drive and stabilize retail activity in 2020, with the online shopping market experiencing a decade worth of growth in just a few months, according to research from Moody’s Analytics. Sales hit a peak in the… Read More
Foreign Buyers Position for CRE Opportunities
After dipping to a seven-year low, foreign investment into U.S. commercial real estate could be poised for a big year of buying in 2021. Investment sales transactions took a hit across the board in 2020 as both domestic and foreign… Read More
What is the Right REIT Allocation?
Commercial real estate is a core asset class with unique investment attributes and return drivers. This has been demonstrated over time and is the reason that 83 percent of financial advisors in the U.S. recommend REITs. Investments in REITs are… Read More
AutoZone Expands Presence as Sales Climb
AutoZone, Inc., an automotive parts and accessories retailer, reported that net sales jumped 15.8 percent in the second quarter of fiscal 2021 as it expanded its store count, according to a Tuesday (March 2) announcement. AutoZone reported that domestic same-store sales… Read More
Retailers Opening More Stores in 2021
Reports of the death of physical stores seem to be greatly exaggerated. Don’t believe it? Ask TJX, the dollar stores, Five Below and lots of other retailers. In the midst of perhaps the biggest prolonged shutdown of physical stores in… Read More
Net Lease Assets Buoy Real Estate Investors
The pandemic has turned the commercial real estate world upside-down. Large, trophy assets like condo and office towers have seen a decline in investor interest and therefor value. At the same time, some of the smallest assets into its heaviest… Read More
Retail Sales to Exceed $4.33T in 2021
The National Retail Federation today issued its annual forecast, anticipating that retail sales will grow between 6.5 percent and 8.2 percent to more than $4.33 trillion in 2021 as more individuals get vaccinated and the economy reopens. “Despite the continuing health and economic challenges COVID-19 presents, we are very optimistic that healthy… Read More
Private Equity has $300B for Pandemic-Hit Real Estate
The potential rewards for private equity firms are underpinned by the growing allocations to real estate among pension funds and insurance companies. Real-estate bosses at Blackstone Group Inc. quietly smiled when Britain’s biggest-selling tabloid unwittingly endorsed their largest European real… Read More
What the Permitted Use Clause Means Under COVID-19
When the COVID-19 pandemic arrived, everyone had an immediate, visceral reaction to review their force majeure clauses. Shortly thereafter, articles touting the implications of contractual force majeure clauses quickly flooded legal publications nationwide. Seemingly, it was worthwhile to review this provision… Read More
Is Retail (Malls, too) Primed for a Comeback?
Simon Property Group CEO David Simon predicted a “major comeback” for suburban retail coming out of the pandemic on his company’s fourth-quarter conference call last week. “With all of the urbanization that was predicted two or three years ago, the… Read More