November 2015 Issue

There were three clear takeaways from Real Estate Capital’s latest Europe Forum (see pp14-21), held in London a few weeks ago: banks are back; senior debt spreads have widened since the summer; and risk for property lenders is rising as the real estate cycle moves on.

Too much capital chasing too few assets was key EXPO conference theme

Claim for unpaid interest may have serious implications for other deals, writes Paul Yandall Investors in the troubled Titan Europe CMBS conduit could be hit hard if the Class X noteholder succeeds in its legal action to recover payments it believes it is entitled to. Credit Suisse Asset Management, the Class X noteholder in the […]

Big developments tap overseas investment programme as banks step back, writes Al Barbarino A US post-recession environment marked by tightened lending standards at home and increased wealth overseas has led to the “meteoric rise” of EB-5 financing. A new CBRE report shows the fast-growing investment vehicle contributed more than $4bn to construction projects in  the […]

Delegates report rise in margins due to capital markets volatility and lenders hitting targets

Value Retail's Scott Malkin in conversation with Lloyds Bank's Martin Green

SL Green plays a leading role in New York City's real estate scene, as a lender and an investors

Market jitters make some exits harder, but demand for CRE loans remains robust

Depth of investor demand encourages banks to sell chunks of loans, reports Lauren Parr Banks may have a lot of debt to sell before the year is over but they have the ball in their court thanks to the weight of money targeting secondary loans. “Loan sellers are sometimes seeing more potential buyers than they […]

Investors in Southern Europe see opportunities but say except for vanilla deals, debt remains scarce

PERE Research and Analytics, which has expanded its monitoring, shows 112 debt funds in the market this month seeking $44.5bn, of which $17.4bn is being sought in Europe and $14.5bn in the Americas. Global funds, including new entrant Blackstone, fund-raising for its BREDS III fund, are seeking £7.5bn. CLICK HERE to see October funds in […]

Annual returns on five-year, senior UK commercial real estate debt are forecast to be 3.6% gross and 3.4% on a risk-adjusted basis at the end of Q3 2015, according to CBRE’s latest UK debt prospects quarterly forecast. This is a slight fall on Q2 2015, when returns were 3.8% gross and 3.7% risk-adjusted (see fig 1).

• The largest UK loan during the period was a £500m facility for logistics specialist Tritax Big Box REIT to refinance a UK portfolio. Barclays,Helaba, Wells Fargo and ING Real Estate Finance provided a five-year loan, initially at 140bps above three-month Libor. When fully drawn, the loan will cut Tritax’s average debt margin from 177bps […]

Europe’s CMBS market is currently dominated by the securitisation of large, balance-sheet loans, but pricing achieved in three recent CMBS issues has been disappointing. Perhaps now would be an opportune time for lenders to embrace agency CMBS structures, with respect to the securitisation of such loans. The challenging pricing achieved in relation to Logistics UK 2015 CMBS, Reitaly Finance CMBS and Taurus 2015-3 EU DAC shows the potential perils of CMBS as a distribution tool for CRE debt. These three deals bring into stark focus the pricing quandary that confronts many conduit lenders.