Commercial real estate prices fell 3.3 percent nationwide in August, according to Moody’s, marking the third time in a row that prices dropped between 3 percent and 4 percent month-over-month. The decline brings the Moody’s commercial property price index to its lowest point since the market downturn began, surpassing the previous low point recorded in October 2009. The index is now 45.1 percent below its peak from October 2007, according to Nick Levidy, managing director of Moody’s. “The commercial real estate market in the U.S. has become trifurcated with prices rising for performing trophy assets located in major market, [while] falling sharply for distressed assets, and remaining essentially flat for smaller healthy properties,” Levidy said. TRD

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Commercial real estate prices nationwide dropped 3.1 percent in July from the previous month, according to the Moody’s/REAL Commercial Property Price Index. Prices were 43.2 percent down from their October 2007 peak. Nick Levidy, a managing director with Moody’s, said that the decline had been expected. “The recent [commercial market] performance, while perhaps somewhat discouraging, should not come as a complete surprise,” Levidy said. “We have noted for several months than markets are likely to remain choppy for some time.” The news wasn’t bad for all markets, however — Florida saw its first multi-family property price increase since the start of the recession, climbing 10.8 percent year-over-year in July. TRD

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Commercial real estate prices dropped 4 percent nationwide in June, according to the latest data from Moody’s, which pegged prices at 41.4 percent below their October 2007 peak but 4.2 percent above their October 2009 bottom. The dip — based on repeat sales transactions — comes after two months of price increases in the commercial property sector. Meanwhile, the dollar volume of those sales transactions increased $2.1 billion in June from $800 million in April. The number of repeat sales deals was also up, by 43 percent, in June. The sales uptick “may be an early indication that buyers and sellers are starting to agree on market-clearing prices,” said Nick Levidy, managing director for Moody’s. “If this is in fact occurring, we would expect
transaction volumes to rise steadily and price volatility to ebb in the months to come,” he said. TRD

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U.S. commercial real estate prices rose 3.6 percent in May, the second straight monthly increase after a 1.7 percent rise in April, according to Moody’s Commercial Property Price Index. In May there were 107 resales, down slightly from 114 in April. By dollar volume, the amount of repeat sales almost doubled, to over $1.5 billion in May from less than $800 million in April. Nationwide, as of the end of May, prices were 38.9 percent below their October 2007 peak and had rebounded 8.6 percent from their October 2009 low. Prices were down 6.3 percent year-over-year and had declined 33 percent over the past two years. “We expect commercial real estate prices to remain choppy in the coming months,” said Moody’s managing director Nick Levidy. “The positive news of increasing prices over the past two months is tempered by low transaction volumes, forecasts for slowing macroeconomic growth and the rising risk of a double dip recession.” TRD

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Commercial real estate prices declined 2.6 percent nationwide in February, according to the most recent report on the commercial market from Moody’s (click here to see full report). The month-over-month price decline comes after a 6.3 percent rally from November through January, a trend that Nick Levidy, a managing director with Moody’s, said he suspected would not continue for long. “We did not feel that these increases were sustainable in the short term, particularly given current low transaction volumes,” Levidy said. Transaction volume dropped by 10 percent month-over-month, according to the report. Currently, prices are down 41.8 percent from the October 2007 peak. TRD [more]

U.S. commercial real estate prices continued their modest rise in January, up 1.0 percent during the month, according to a Monday report from Moody’s Investors Services. It was the third month in a row of price increases in the commercial sector, which has brought prices back 6.3 percent from their October 2009 low, when they were 43.7 percent off of their October 2007 peak, the report says. There were 376 sales during the month totaling $4.9 billion, representing an 8 percent drop in activity year-over-year, but a 9 percent increase in dollar volume. “A few months of price gains does not necessarily indicate a sustainable trend, particularly in these difficult times,” cautioned Nick Levidy, managing director at Moody’s. “Higher transaction volumes are needed to enhance the price discovery process.” New York performed worst out of Moody’s major office markets — New York, San Francisco, Washington D.C. — during 2009, with prices dropping 32.7 percent during the year. In Florida, apartment building values dropped 38 percent over the year, according to the report. TRD

Could the battered U.S. commercial real estate market be starting to rebound? Moody’s/REAL registered its second month-over-month commercial property price increase in December, a 4.1 percent jump that represented the largest such increase in nine years, according to a report released today. Transaction volume was also up, with a total of $9 billion from 716 transactions, consistent with standard end-of-the-year trends. Despite the positive signs, December prices were down 29.2 percent over one year ago and 40.8 percent off of their peak values. Moody’s was hesitant to conclude from the data that the market is on a steadily upward trend, but, according to managing director Nick Levidy, “we do believe that the period of large price declines is over.” TRD

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