Bay Area Commercial Real Estate Helping REITs
SOURCE: SFGate
Throughout the wide range of financial companies which include banks, brokerage firms, money managers, insurers and real estate investment trusts (REITs), they have all been hurt to some degree by the credit crunch. There has been one underlying conclusion though - the further away a company was from housing and residential mortgages the better it has done over the past year.
For example, even though Wells Fargo was a major originator of subprime loans during the housing boom, most were immediately sold to others and never made it to Wells Fargo's balance sheet. This has made it so they have largely avoided the land mines that have blow up other mortgage lenders.
As well, in many regions, especially the Bay area, commercial real estate has held up much better than housing and that has helped REITs. For example, Essex Realty Trust which invests in multi-family housing has done relatively well due to its large exposure to the Bay area and Seattle. These are just two of the nation's best apartment markets.
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Throughout the wide range of financial companies which include banks, brokerage firms, money managers, insurers and real estate investment trusts (REITs), they have all been hurt to some degree by the credit crunch. There has been one underlying conclusion though - the further away a company was from housing and residential mortgages the better it has done over the past year.
For example, even though Wells Fargo was a major originator of subprime loans during the housing boom, most were immediately sold to others and never made it to Wells Fargo's balance sheet. This has made it so they have largely avoided the land mines that have blow up other mortgage lenders.
As well, in many regions, especially the Bay area, commercial real estate has held up much better than housing and that has helped REITs. For example, Essex Realty Trust which invests in multi-family housing has done relatively well due to its large exposure to the Bay area and Seattle. These are just two of the nation's best apartment markets.
Read full report »
