Commercial services firm CB Richard Ellis represented the tenants in
seven of the 10 largest office leasing deals that closed in the first
half of 2010,
up from three of the top leasing deals in same period last year, a
CoStar Group ranking of the top 50 leasing deals published today in
Crain’s shows. CBRE dominated the upper tier of leases with the top four tenants:
Proskauer Rose, Polo Ralph Lauren, Showtime and Beijing Vantone Real
Estate. [more]

The monthly decline of commercial real estate prices nationwide is easing somewhat, according to the latest Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Indices. In October, the price indices declined 1.5 percent from a month earlier, a sign that commercial prices may be leveling off, said Nick Levidy, managing director at Moody’s. “The pace of declines has tapered off since the large drops measured in April and May,” Levidy said, adding, however, that more declines may be seen before the market completely bottoms out. Commercial property values declined approximately 36.4 percent in October from the levels seen a year ago during the same time period and 43.7 percent from the values recorded during the market peak two years ago. TRD

National commercial property prices have dropped to 2002 levels, according to the data released today from Moody’s, as the all-property type aggregate index declined to 109.61 in September, a 3.9 percent month-over-month drop. The September level in the Commercial Property Price Indices is 42.9 percent lower than the peak prices recorded in October 2007. Overall market transactions have been low throughout the year, the report noted, as nationwide commercial property transactions number fewer than 400 thus far in 2009. In New York, office building prices saw an index rating of 176 in September this year, a 22.9 drop from the rating seen during the same time period a year earlier. TRD

As the economy braces for what could be an increase in commercial property foreclosures, Robert White of Real Capital Analytics led PBS “NewsHour’s” Paul Solman on a tour of some of Manhattan’s at-risk commercial properties. White said that over-exuberance and optimism led to overpriced commercial towers with little equity. Developer Harry Macklowe’s Worldwide Plaza, for example, which was priced at $1.7 billion, was traded a month ago at a little under $600 million, in part because the building was around 50 percent vacant when it was sold — something few anticipated. “The market was full of such optimism that rents would keep increasing and the buildings would stay fully leased,” White said. “The economy was still growing, banks had a lot of money to lend and there were many investors who also wanted to be in commercial real estate.”