Tuesday, June 17, 2008

National Survey of Real Estate Professionals Reveals Stagnating Market

Unrealistic Expectations on Value Is Central Factor Driving Market

NEW YORK, June 17 /PRNewswire/ -- Real estate professionals polled from
around the country have expressed concern that property in the United
States is overvalued.

According to the fifth annual Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives'
Forecast Survey, 59 percent of the executives polled believe commercial
properties are overvalued and only 4 percent consider commercial properties
to be undervalued.

"The results of Bryan Cave's survey are further evidence some owners
are focused on peak values of a year ago," said Jon Caplan, executive vice
president of Cushman & Wakefield, a national real estate firm. "Overall,
the market is awaiting more information regarding valuation. There are few
recent data points. Debt is scarce, and it is not clear what the game rules
will be for lending going forward. We are in a transition and transaction
volume will pick up as we get more clarity."

Barry Ross, a partner at Bryan Cave, seconded Caplan's view and added
that "91 percent of the executives polled by our survey believe the credit
crunch will continue to reduce capital for commercial real estate
financings for at least seven more months. The expectation among executives
can only add to the market's woes and slow activity in the short term."



Other important findings include:

- A majority of the respondents (61 percent) felt that the 15 percent
capital gains tax rate on the sale of real estate will rise if the
Democrats win the White House this year. No one expects the rate to go
up if John McCain wins the White House, and 18 percent said the rate
will stay the same regardless of who wins the presidential election.

-- Real estate professionals throughout the U.S. have indicated the place
to invest is the Northeast and the most attractive asset class for
investment is metropolitan office buildings.

-- Survey results showed a steady and continuing interest in international
real estate investment exists. More than 50 percent of the respondents
indicated it was highly likely or somewhat likely that they will invest
outside of the U.S. this year.

About the Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey

The fifth annual Bryan Cave Real Estate Executives' Forecast Survey was
conducted among 323 real estate professionals, including brokers, lenders,
commercial mortgage bankers, title insurers, contractors, investors and
engineers, at a variety of public and private real estate companies, real
estate services, commercial banks, opportunity and investment funds,
investment banks and law firms.

This survey, conducted by Opinauri between March 11 and April 14, is
based on voluntary, opt-in online interviews generated by an e-mail
invitation from Bryan Cave. The survey was designed, supervised and
analyzed by The Marketing Workshop in Norcross, Ga.

This survey sample size (N=323) has a margin of error of +/- 5.3
percent at the 95 percent confidence level.

About Bryan Cave LLP

Bryan Cave LLP has a diversified international legal practice. The firm
represents a wide variety of business, financial, institutional and
individual clients, including publicly held multinational corporations,
large and mid-sized privately held companies, partnerships and emerging
companies. Subsidiaries Bryan Cave International Trade and Bryan Cave
Strategies LLC provide trade and customs consultancy and government
relations and strategic counsel, respectively. Aided by extensive
investments in technology, Bryan Cave's more than 1,000 lawyers and other
consulting professionals in 22 offices across the United States, the United
Kingdom, Continental Europe, the Middle East and Asia efficiently serve
clients' needs in the world's leading business and financial markets.



See Also:

[Via Real Estate Newswire]

Опубліковано prolink о 6:39 AM

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