CBRE Global In-Sights

In this 30-minute overview, CBRE’s Asia Pacific research team discuses the latest economic and property trends across the region, from an occupier and investment perspective. Amidst global economic uncertainty and short-term volatility, market fundamentals in the Asia Pacific region remain strong as it continues to witness steady growth. Significant downside risks include a further weakening of the global economy. How will this impact the commercial real estate outlook for 2012? Join the APAC regional team as they share their respective views for the office and investment markets in the region.

Given tepid economic growth in the U.S., the multi-housing property sector remains strong, with gains in occupancy and increases in effective rents across many markets. Institutional investor demand is steady, driving down cap rates across many of the primary, gateway markets. In this Global In-Sight podcast, we turn to our own Peter Donovan for his perspective and outlook for the multi-housing market. Peter provides his view on the varied performance across markets, and on the opportunities and risks facing the multi-housing sector through the next couple of years.

John O’Bryan, Vice Chairman of CBRE Limited, and Asieh Mansour, Head of Americas Research, discuss market conditions in Canada in light of recent weakening economic growth and market volatility in the U.S. and the Eurozone. The stability of Canada’s economy and commercial real estate sectors relative to other regions, and how it could benefit investors and occupiers, is also discussed.

CBRE’s Director of Latin America Research, Victor Lopez, and Head of Americas Research, Asieh Mansour, discuss the economic conditions in Latin America and their implications for commercial real estate in the region. The recent drop in the exchange rate and its relative effects on the significant markets within Latin America, as well as the risk involved are also discussed.

Asieh Mansour, Peter Damesick, and Nick Axford, CBRE's Regional Research Leadership in the Americas, EMEA, and Asia Pacific, respectively, discuss global economic and real estate themes with Raymond Torto. This discussion touches upon the uncertainty in the European and U.S. markets in contrast to the strength of Asia Pacific. The implications of a divergent global economy for commercial real estate across regions and the outlook for the balance of this year are discussed.

Ethan Penner and Sabina Kalyan discuss their recent paper “August Angst: Its impact on European and U.S. Real Estate” with host Raymond Torto. Their analysis focuses on fears about U.S. economic growth and the implications for global growth, and on fears of policy paralysis in Europe. While articulating their great concern about what these mean for real estate, the authors do note circumstances and strategies that can provide protection and upside.

CBRE, together with Ronen Journo, Director of Workplace and Emerging Markets at Cisco, is pleased to present an exclusive podcast covering Global Location strategies. At a time when turbulent economic market conditions are pushing businesses to carefully consider their location strategies, we explore why international companies today are locating their offices in certain cities, and we unveil the top business locations of tomorrow. This Global In-Sights was developed from our recent Business Footprints report, which analyses the global locations of 280 of the world’s largest companies.

Asieh Mansour and Ray Torto analyze the potential impact that slower economic growth, Standard & Poor’s downgrade of the U.S. credit rating and the turmoil in the global financial markets will have on the commercial real estate markets. This Global In-Sights, titled “U.S. Debt, Deficit and Real Estate,” provides a perspective on why the crisis erupted and what its implications are for interest rates, the dollar and commercial real estate debt, pricing and fundamentals.

With mounting uncertainty facing U.S. economic growth prospects, we turn to CBRE’s own Mike Lafitte for his perspective on the commercial real estate markets. Mike, CBRE’s President of the Americas, shares his expert view on U.S. growth prospects and the implications for both property market fundamentals and capital market trends.

Singapore was the fastest growing economy in the world in 2010. This fact is reflected in its very active real estate market, where many office occupiers have expanded their operations and/or upgraded to new office space. With vacancy rates low, there is constant upward pressure on rent levels. Over the next four years, however, some eight million sq. ft. of new space will be delivered to the market. Should we be alarmed by this elevated development pipeline? Will the new supply ease the pressure on rents? Petra Blazkova and Nick Axford discuss the outlook for the Singapore market.

Hong Kong’s office vacancy is extremely tight and its best buildings are practically full. It comes as no surprise, then, to learn that rents in the market—already the most expensive in the world—continue to rise. Is current growth sustainable? Will supply respond to ease pressure in the market? Ed Farrelly and Nick Axford go beyond the headline data to highlight the key issues facing landlords, occupiers and investors in the Hong Kong office market.

The commercial real estate industry is facing many challenges, including economic uncertainty. Gateway real estate markets in the U.S., however, continue to attract a large volume of capital flows. New York City's office market is among the most notable beneficiaries of such domestic and cross-border investment flows. In this edition of our Global In-Sights podcast, we focus on market conditions and assess investment sales activity in the New York City office market. We also include an insightful comparison of Midtown and Downtown office market dynamics.

China, as the second largest economy in the world, has always been a priority market for both occupiers and investors. How will such strong economic fundamentals impact the performance and future prospects of the real estate sector in China? Danny Ma and Nick Axford share their respective views on the key highlights and outlook for the office, retail and investment markets in China.

The Global Financial Crisis affected Australia less than it did other countries, but so far the strong expected recovery has failed to eventuate. A raft of natural catastrophes early in 2011 and a slower-than-expected recovery in the all-important mining sector stalled the economy; however, momentum is building. The office and industrial sectors are enjoying improved fundamentals, but retail is being challenged on many fronts. Investment markets are experiencing keen local and offshore interest, but a lack of quality stock on the market is keeping turnover below average. Hear Kevin Stanley discuss current conditions and the outlook for this popular investment destination.

The National Asset Management Agency (NAMA) has been in operation since 2009 and to date has purchased more than €70 billion of loans from Irish banks at an average discount of 58%. In the absence of liquidity and with the Irish Government proposing the introduction of retrospective legislation on rent reviews in business leases, investment activity in the Irish market remains subdued. However, activity in the occupier sectors of the commercial property market is holding up well as a result of occupiers taking advantage of a significant improvement in competitiveness. This Global In-Sights webcast, presented by Marie Hunt, Head of Research at CB Richard Ellis, Ireland, examines the impact the economic collapse in Ireland has had on the occupational and investment sectors of the commercial property market and focuses on some of the issues impacting on the performance of both sectors at this juncture.