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On the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers and the onset of the global financial crisis,  President Barack Obama used a Wall Street speech to call for stringent new regulation of United States markets.  After Lehman’s collapse, the American government infused billions of dollars into the financial system and took major stakes in […]

Eleven of the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks showed signs of a stabilizing or improving economy during July and August, according to the Fed’s latest Beige Book report.  The Beige Book’s anecdotal evidence found that the nation’s worst recession in 70 years is coming to an end.  The Fed expects the economy to grow by […]

Despite positive news about rising home sales, the number of Americans with under water mortgages might be as worrying as anything else happening in the economy. When people owe more on their mortgages than their home is worth, it limits their ability to pursue new opportunities because they cannot afford to sell.  In Chicago, First […]

Federal Reserve chairman and Great Depression scholar Ben Bernanke will stay in his job for another four years if President Barack Obama gets his way.  There likely will be some contentious moments during the reconfirmation hearings as Senators grill him about bailing out Wall Street institutions deemed too big to fail.  He is expected to […]

Downtown Chicago apartment buildings – especially Class A properties – are seeing a resurgence in occupancy and rental rates as residents apprehensive about the condominium market choose to rent rather than buy.  The average effective rent of downtown apartment buildings climbed to $2.17 PSF in the second quarter, a 2.4 percent increase over the first […]

Container trade is entering rough waters, despite the strength of global supply chains and China’s status as the world’s factory.  According to AXS Alphaliner, a container shipping information service, 15 percent of shipping capacity will be idle by October — thanks primarily to the recession. Shipping companies that link Asian workshops with American retailers are […]

An interesting comment in an article that some might have missed.  GlobeSt.com reports that Eastern Consolidated CEO Peter Hauspurg said  “part of the whole thing that’s keeping these banks glued up with the CMBS is the fact [that] no one has been able to unravel the loans they understood when they made them.” Hauspurg noted […]

In terms of commercial property investment, one positive sign is from firms buying properties to use for their own business operations.  Called user-buyers, these investors have proven they are able to get money from banks to spend on property acquisitions — a relative rarity nowadays.  Those who do not need a loan already have earmarked their […]

Sales of new and existing homes rose in June for the third straight month, due primarily to low prices and attractive mortgage rates.  Home sales also rose 11 percent over the previous month. The federal tax credit for first-time homebuyers helped to drive the uptick.  Additionally, home prices rose for the first time in three […]

More than $108 billion of commercial properties in the United States are now in default, foreclosure or bankruptcy.   That preliminary statistic is nearly double the amount reported at the start of 2009, according to New York-based Real Capital Analytics, Inc. At the end of June, 5,315 buildings were reported to be in financial distress.  Hotels […]