- FTSE, DAX, CAC Seen Lower, Greek Deal Delayed
- Citigroup Takes $50 Million Loss in Lending Rate Probe
- Investment Banking Drags Down Barclays Profit
- The Secret Lives of Traders—Seeking the Next Hot Thing
- FBI Investigated Steve Jobs Drug Use
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- China January Trade Surplus Soars as Imports Crumble
- Markets Finally Get Greek Deal —So Where's the Rally?
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds
- New York Fashion Week Hits the Runway as Colors Pop
- Mulling Buffett's Stock Advice? Get in With REITs: Fund Managers
- LinkedIn Earnings Bode Well for Hiring and Social Media
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Victor Cruz ‘Understands’ Gisele's Super Bowl Frustrations
- Tamminen: The United States of India
- Unusual Volume: Taleo Jumps After Oracle's $1.9 Billion Offer
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
- So Now You Can’t Give Microsoft Away?
MOST SHARED
- Tesla Unveils First SUV: Model X
- Strip Greenspan of His Knighthood: SocGen Strategist
- Sony's Hirai to Extend PlayStation Strategy, Cut Costs
- India's Tata Steel Posts First Quarterly Loss in 2 Years
- China January Trade Surplus Soars as Imports Crumble
- Steelers' Antonio Brown Spends Super Bowl Week with Twitter Fan Turned BFF
- Top Five Mistakes to Avoid in Online Dating
- Jobs You Can Do Forever
- Zynga, Hasbro Partner to Make Toys, Games
- Warren Buffett: Stocks Will Outperform Gold and Bonds .. and They're Safer 'By Far'
MOST POPULAR
HOT ON FACEBOOK
Commercial Real Estate Investors Tap on the Brakes
Text Size 
Spooked by higher interest rates and troubles in the subprime residential mortgage market, commercial real estate investors and lenders are rethinking some deals that would have sailed through just six months ago.
"There has definitely been a readjustment," said Marc Schnitzer, chief executive of Centerline Capital Group, a subsidiary of Centerline Holding
"The investors who are buying a lot of the CDOs (collateralized debt obligations), investors that are buying a lot of the CMBS (commercial mortgage-backed securities), have started to push back on some of the more aggressive deal terms," he said this week at the Reuters Global Real Estate Summit in New York.
The meteoric rise of real estate prices over the past few years allowed investors to finance, in some cases, more than 90% of their acquisitions using borrowed money, such as mortgages, mezzanine debt and bridge loans.
Much of that debt was then used by investment banks and others to back securities sold to pension funds, university endowments and other institutional investors. The money raised was then recycled back to make more loans.
Such loans would fund purchases of individual properties and large real estate portfolios, such as Blackstone Group's [BX
Loading...
()
] $23 billion acquisition in February of Equity Office.
The issue of risk, and investors who assume it by purchasing the loans and securities, came under scrutiny in the winter as residential mortgage defaults spiked.
While commercial real estate has not seen the sort of rise in foreclosures the residential market has, lenders and CMBS investors have demanded either to be paid more for risk or that issuers get rid of some of the riskier loans they are selling.
- Many have called to abolish the Federal Reserve. But what would happen if it was dissolved for good?
- Entrepreneurs have increasingly been buying back their companies over the last three years.
- Where are the best city locations for singles to take the online dating plunge?
- A Steelers fan spent a week with wide receiver Antonio Brown- and it was all due to tweeting.
- Here’s a look at the woman behind the newest collectible toy that kids love.
- Grab a brew—or not—and click ahead to experience the world’s most highly rated beers.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes
