Mr. Dan Fasulo is the Director of Market Research for Real Capital Analytics and he is scheduled to be a guest speaker on the next Capital Synergies podcast to discuss commercial mortgage rates.

We'll keep you posted!

SOURCE: Financial Week

According to the author of this article, Mr. Frank Byrt, "Credit market woes have barely dented the office-space market, which has been supported by strong leasing. But the lack of demand for securities backed by commercial mortgages could put a lid on deals."

In his upbeat article, Mr. Byrt goes on to explain that despite all the commotion in the residential market and the speculation surrounding the recent interest rate hikes, the commercial real estate sector is alive and well, and banks and life insurance companies “didn’t skip a beat.”

However, because of the lackluster CMBS market, so few property deals closed in September that it will probably be one of the slowest months in several years, according to Dan Fasulo, director of market analysis for Real Capital Analytics, which tracks commercial market transactions.

But because of the heavy deal-making over the first eight months of the year, annual sales have already reached record territory. Year to date through Oct. 1, commercial property sales totaled $370 billion vs. $350 billion in all of 2006.

So it’s a good bet that by year-end, sales will top $400 billion and perhaps approach $420 billion, Mr. Fasulo predicted.

He added that the completion earlier this month of the $22.2 billion Tishman Speyer/Lehman Brothers acquisition of the Archstone-Smith REIT—albeit with the aid of an odd lot of financiers including Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- will help boost investor confidence.

“That’s a real bullish sign for the whole commercial sector that a transaction of that size went through even during the credit crunch,” Mr. Fasulo said. “It was a shot of adrenaline” for the marketplace.

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