REC staff

REC global commentary Global stock markets fell in January, with the MSCI AC World Index down 3.8%. Real estate shares also fell, returning -5.9%. Asian REITs and property firms fell furthest, with a -8.9% return (-12.4% for Hong Kong firms). Spain, France and Russia (the latter up 20.7%) led Europe’s outperformance of other regions; EPRA […]

Fitch Ratings has just launched regular updates on European securitised loans that have fallen due for repayment or are set to mature. In 2010, there is €6bn of maturing CMBS debt in 93 loans that Fitch rates. “The number and volume of loans due to mature ticks up in 2010 then accelerates,” said Fitch CMBS […]

M&G’s new property debt fund raised a modest sum from external investors at its first closing, but manager John Barakat sees growth potential in the gap left by banks. Jane Roberts reports

The private equity arm of hedge fund Duet Group found rare success in reaching a first closing for its debut real estate debt fund, which will target Germany and the UK, writes Jane Roberts

The flip side of the ratings controversy is that some investors have relied blindly on them. “At the height of the market, in some cases, investors carried out no due diligence,” says Conor Downey of law firm Paul Hastings. “They couldn’t – they had committed to buy before the paper was produced.” But by 2011, […]

Europe lags behind the US in providing investors with the data they need to assess CMBS issues

Flaws in credit rating system have been blamed for triggering financial crisis, writes Alex Catalano

Report says banks still hold key to property recovery, despite return of equity, writes Jane Roberts

Liquidity will increase this year, but banks are still cautious about property, reports Jane Roberts

The number of former senior property bankers re-appearing, reincarnated, on the debt-buying side has gone up noticeably in the past few months. These guys (and gals) were the people who worked for the likes of Barclays Capital, Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley, where they originated billions of pounds of property debt and pushed it out […]