Current State of the Market

Published: Jan 22, 2015
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How is the commercial real estate market doing this year and where are we headed? Tom Fink, Senior Vice President and Managing Director, Trepp LLC, responded by saying, “All of the commercial debt markets are healthy.” He is amazed by the amount of foreign capital coming into the US with the dedicated purpose of making commercial real estate loans.

Also noted is the fact that the real estate industry has made a strong rebound since 2009 – it’s healthy, back on its feet and active. Rates continue to be at a historic low and there is still a huge amount of stimulus outstanding. Mr. Fink stated there doesn’t appear to be anything in the marketplace that is going to push rates higher in the near term. There’s a lot of money out there looking for good investments.

Transcript

EISNERAMPER: Hello, It's my pleasure today to introduce Tom Fink, Senior Vice President and managing director of Trepp LLC. Trepp was founded in 1979 and is the leading provider of information analytics and technology to the commercial mortgage backed securities, commercial real estate and banking markets. Welcome. Tom, what's the current state of the finance market, CMBS banking, etc. The dollar vibe with transactions rates. Where are we headed? How are the markets doing this year and the past quarter? Just what it into context.
Tom Fink: Well, that's a lot of questions to answer all at one time. So, I think the first place to start is to say that all of the commercial debt markets are healthy.

I don't think there's a market out there that isn't finding activity and making loans, whether it's a bank which are very actively seeking commercial real estate, CMBS market, which is where we're most comfortable and we have a lot of information on insurance companies and lending. I think one of the things that continues to amaze me is the amount of foreign capital that's coming into the United States for the dedicated purpose of making commercial real estate loans. If you're in the market now for debt, if you've got a decent amount of equity in a property, I don't think it's hard to find the right debt for the right project at this point. In terms of the CMBS market volumes its seen, we're probably going to get close to $100 million of financing. If you think about it, back in 2009, just about five years ago, we were struggling to get $100, a billion dollars of financing done in a year, so I think it's safe to say the CMBS markets healthy. It's back on its feet and its active. He asked the question about where our rates, and rates are continuing to be at a historic low. I don't think there's anything in the marketplace that's going to push rates higher in the near term. We still have a huge amount of stimulus outstanding and I don't think that's going to allow rates to rise anytime soon. There's just a lot of money out there.
EISNERAMPER: Thank you very much for your insights and thought leadership.
Tom Fink: Aaron, it was my pleasure. I always liked working with you and the folks at EisnerAmper.
EISNERAMPER: Thank you so much. For more information, go to EisnerAmper.com.