March 2015 Issue

The takeover of Canary Wharf Group has been a triumph for its suitors, Brookfield and QIA.

New forecast shows property debt still attractive despite fall in returns, writes Alex Catalano CBRE is launching a new, quarterly forecast, UK Debt Prospects. The research, which Real Estate Capital will carry regularly, estimates the average returns lenders to UK commercial real estate are likely to achieve. Dominic Smith, CBRE’s head of real estate debt […]

Kennedy Wilson Real Estate is is scouring new parts of Europe to expand.

A group of Forest City and Greenland Group executives in New York hold a video conference with their Shanghai counterparts. It’s the US team’s turn to burn the midnight oil; it’s 9pm in New York; 10am in Shanghai. The joint-venture partners may be based on opposite sides of the globe, but the distance between US and Asian firms feels shorter this real estate cycle, as Asian investors are more deeply ingrained in the US real estate markets than ever before.

Our roundtable panel discussed the capital flowing around Europe’s real estate markets, working with investors, and the challenge of matching return expectations with the right assets.

Israel invested a record-breaking $2.4bn in US commercial real estate acquisitions in 2013. That figure was more than Germany, Norway, Japan or Hong Kong, all top US property buyers, invested, and more than 80% of the $2.9bn China spent that year, according to Real Capital Analytics. However, in 2014, Israel largely disappointed expectations, investing just half that amount. The sharp fall was due largely to a flood of foreign investment that began to intensify early last year, making secondary US markets and a burgeoning Israeli bond market more attractive.

Some of the world’s largest institutions and sovereign wealth funds are flocking to Japan.

Nick Porter, founder of leading UK operator Unite and one of the founding fathers of UK student accommodation as an asset class, has made no secret of what he likes best about the sector: to build a business from scratch, establish a brand, then move on to the next challenge. So there was little surprise when Porter sold his interest in his latest brand, Urbanest, in December, after presiding over its growth to 8,000 rooms in just six years.

Real Estate Capital picks out 10 new investors to watch. Big and small, from Asia, America and Europe, they range from start-ups to institutions branching out into international investing, to a sovereign wealth fund building a team to take the steps into independent investing.

Real Estate Capital market commentary • The largest UK loan during the period was Wells Fargo’s and Royal Bank of Canada’s £593m financing for private equity firm Lone Star, which purchased the majority of assets from Moorfield’s first and second funds. The UK properties securing the loan include hotels, office parks and shopping centres. • Royal Bank of Scotland provided one […]

PERE Research and Analytics’ monitoring shows 74 real estate debt funds in the market this month, seeking $37.3bn. New entrants include Lone Star, which is seeking to raise $5bn for its fourth global fund.