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Q1 2012
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Q1 2012 ECONOMIC AND COMMERCIAL REAL ESTATE TRENDS REPORT NATIONAL AND FLORIDA MARKET UPDATES
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NATIONAL ECONOMY Page 2
As business confidence in the recovery begins to improve, employment is Source: National Federation projected to rise. The most current data of Independent Business on business sentiment show that while sentiment remains weak by historic standards, the outlook is brightening. As of its January 2012 update, the NFIB Small Business Optimism Index has been improving for four consecutive months. The Conference Boards CEO Confidence measure improved in the fourth quarter, as well. 2009 2010 2011 Floridas Prodding Recovery Picks Up With parts of Florida still grappling with falling house prices and construction job losses, the state
has lagged the broader recovery. The unemployment rate remains stubbornly high, not only because of challenges in the private sector but also as a result of cutbacks in state and local government payrolls. The outlook is slowly turning more positive, however. As recently as last summer, employment in the state was essentially flat as compared to a year earlier. Hiring has picked up since then; between July and November, Floridas private businesses created more than 60,000 jobs. As a result, total employment increased by 1.6 percent during 2011, outpacing the national trends with the Sunshine States best result since 2006. Education and healthcare and the leisure and hospitality sectors have been the primary contributors to the long- awaited improvement. Floridas improving jobs picture is clouded by the challenges facing the state government and the negative impact of an unnerving pipeline of foreclosures. Last summers projections of a balanced budget have been revised down. Increases in tax rates are unlikely, but state programs are likely to face further cuts. Helping to close the gap over the next several years, Florida stands behind just two other states Texas and California in attracting new residents and spending. By 2016, it will be the third most populous state in the union, overtaking New York. Most of those gains are in older age cohorts, principally retirees. A strong recovery in tourism and household refinancing into record-low mortgage rates are also supporting the increase in sales tax revenue. Orlando and Tampa both experienced very sharp job losses during the recession but have been recovering at a slightly faster pace than peer markets. One-Year Change in Employment Tampas gains ('000) % have come Florida 113.9 1.6% late. With a 2.7 percent Fort Lauderdale 5.9 1.0% increase in Fort Myers 4.0 2.5% 2011, Tampa Gainesville -0.2 -0.2% Bay Jacksonville 9.9 1.9% accounted for Miami 18 2.1% almost one in Ocala 1.8 2.5% four of Orlando 8.3 0.9% Floridas new Sarasota 2.3 1.1% jobs during Tallahassee 0.1 0.1% the last year.
Tampa West Palm Beach 25.8 7.8 2.7% 1.8%
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Page 3 NATIONAL REAL ESTATE
Banks Start Lending But Outlook for CMBS Remains Uncertain While the apartment sectors investment and development activity benefits from the strong support of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and the Federal Housing Administration, other sectors have depended on private sources of financing. The $70
Hisorical Offerings of
Billions
largest net buyers in 2011, REITs REIT Securities
$60
raised more than $50 billion in equity Source: NAREIT, Chandan
and debt, setting a new record. $50
While the largest REITs have put $40
their money to work in gateway $30
markets where life companies and international banks have also been $20
active, investors in other markets have depended on banks and CMBS. $10
Banks entered the fourth quarter $0
2003
2005
2007
2009
2011
with significantly lower default rates than a year earlier. While many banks $80
Billions
CMBS Issuance
are still pulling back from real estate, by Quarter
$70
Source: Chandan
a larger number reengaged with the borrowers by making new loans in $60
the third and fourth quarter. Bank $50
lending remains critical to the health $40
of the industry since the outlook for CMBS is uncertain. CMBS issuance of $30
$32.7 billion in 2011 fell short of early $20
expectations; projections for 2012 do not anticipate a significantly stronger $10
level issuance. $0
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
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FLORIDA APARTMENT Page 4
FLORIDA ECONOMY
6.5% 6.4% 6.3% Q1'10 Q2'10 Q3'10 Q4'10 Q1'11 Q2'11 Q3'11 Q4'11
Fort Lauderdale Fort Myers Gainesville Jacksonville Miami Naples Orlando Palm Beach Sarasota Tallahassee Tampa
2.5% 2.4% 2.0% 2.5% 4.5% 2.9% 2.8% 1.0% 1.8% 2.0% 3.0%
5.4% 8.5% 8.5% 9.0% 4.3% 7.9% 7.0% 7.2% 5.1% 8.0% 6.5%
-0.4% -1.0% -0.3% -1.8% -0.6% -1.3% -1.9% -0.3% -0.8% -0.1% -1.0%
This combination of improving cash flow and higher yields, coupled with a positive long-term outlook for population growth and available financing, supports a positive investment outlook for cautious buyers. Fort Lauderdale, in particular, has seen a strong uptick in price discovery and sales of properties trading below $10 million. As in other markets, investors in Fort Lauderdale must watch for potential overbuilding that would undercut gains down the road.
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Page 5 FLORIDA OFFICE
Florida Office Struggles; Niche Opportunities in Medical Office In Jacksonville, a single fourth quarter lease
signing by EverBank Financial stabilized the CBD office market. Looking to move roughly 1,500 employees from its suburban headquarters, EverBank took 270,000 square feet and naming rights at the AT&T tower in a December lease signing that will increase CBD employment by as much as 8 percent. Even with concerns about weak fundamentals weighing on office valuations, investors showed a new readiness to buy assets at a discount in the fourth quarter. Recent trades in Brevard County and a spate of sales in Tampa, including the January sale of the Pointe office building to Parkway Properties, reflect a departure from the disappointing levels of activity reported earlier in 2011. Underperforming assets are trading at deep discounts. Palm Springs Center, which defaulted on its mortgage in early 2011, sold in December for less than half of the outstanding principal balance on the mortgage. Medical Office Buildings Capture Upside Medical office property investment activity slowed in the fourth quarter, but investor demand in the niche remains strong. Floridas projected population growth is weighted heavily towards seniors, who will account for almost half of new Floridians over the next two decades. These prevailing demographic trends support long-term demand for medical services in the state. At the same time, buyers are finding a relatively deep pool of acquisition opportunities. Regulatory and compliance changes are motivating hospitals and health systems to dispose of tenanted properties or undertake sale-leasebacks. Healthcare reform and its impact on doctor reimbursement rates are ever-present considerations for this sector. The outlook for physician practice reimbursement is dim given constraints on the federal and state purses. Seeking to redeploy equity, reduce overhead, or unencumber themselves of mortgage debt, a larger number of physicians may bring properties to market in 2012. A sudden increase in supply of small assets for sale, and the potential for defaults by doctors who levered up during the real estate boom, could hurt prices. But investors with reasonably long-term investment time horizons will look past the immediate pressures on value.
Grappling with an absence of new jobs in office- using occupations, net absorption remained weak or negative in Floridas office markets during the fourth quarter. The vacancy rate at the end of the year was 20.0 percent or higher in six of the eleven reporting metros. Only one market, Miami, reported an observable increase in rents. The small gain reflects the movement of tenants to other, better properties offering generous incentives rather than an uptick in net absorption. The increase in the market average has been helped along by the completion of three new buildings in the last year and half, even as the new properties have pushed the market vacancy rate higher. Overall, Floridas office vacancy rate could trend higher through the second or third quarters of 2012. If firms hiring plans offer any indication, occupancy gains in 2012 will benefit some of Floridas hardest hit markets. A small but growing net share of businesses in Fort Myers, Sarasota, and Tampa are reporting plans to increase payrolls in 2012. While many of the new jobs will be in healthcare and hospitality, corporate employers will contribute to the overall improvement.
Fort Lauderdale Fort Myers Gainesville Jacksonville Miami Naples Orlando Palm Beach Sarasota Tallahassee
0.0% -1.3% -0.8% -6.5% 1.7% 0.5% -2.1% -4.0% 0.2% -1.0% 0.2%
19.0% 23.8% 20.2% 18.9% 19.7% 22.0% 18.3% 22.0% 20.4% 14.5% 20.0%
0.1% 1.0% -0.4% -0.9% 0.7% 0.4% -1.0% -0.4% 0.3% -0.2% -0.6%
Tampa
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FLORIDA OFFICE
Tourism Spending and Discount Retail Both Benefit from Floridas Imbalanced Recovery Floridas retail sector has struggled during the At the other extreme, retail spaces along major
states housing crisis, weighed down by joblessness and anemic consumer confidence. Street-level retail in CBD office properties has faced particular headwinds given the high office vacancy rate. While most markets had lower vacancy rates at the end of 2011, Miami and Tampa are alone in reporting single-digit vacancy.
-15% 2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
The recent uptick in service jobs and lackluster wage growth in other sectors have afforded some upside. Discount retailing has been one of the few retail subtypes to capture the downturns silver lining. Land sales in support of discount retail development, such as the January acquisition of a Port Charlotte site that may become home to a Dollar General, are indicative of Florida consumers cost-conscious mood.
tourist corridors, including parts of South Beach, have seen vacancy rates fall on a sustained increase in tourism and related spending. A recent South Beach trade commanded a valuation in excess of $800 per square foot. Value-add deals for big box retail centers are also contributing to sales volume and, as part of repositioning efforts, marginal improvements in occupancy.
Florida Retail Rent and Vacancy Rate Trends
2011 Change in Asking Rents Q4 2011 Vacancy Rate 2011 Change in Vacancy Rate
Ports, Trade Boosts Industrial Warehouses and Distribution Floridas industrial fundamentals and investment
activity carried gains from prior quarters into the fourth quarter, outpacing the recovery in the office and retail sectors. Managing to avoid the spotlight that has accompanied highly visible office sales, several recent trades of well-located warehouses and research and development facilities have allowed investors to secure stable cash flow streams at favorable prices. Avoiding functionally obsolete space has been a key consideration since these assets are trading at the deepest discounts. Investment opportunities in the $2 million to $10 million range are abundant, charting a path to portfolio diversification for buyers that may have focused on retail or office space up to now. Within this subset of the market, warehouse and distribution centers located near major ports are benefiting from healthy year-over-year gains in
trade volume. In 2010, waterborne trade in and out of Floridas ports jumped 22.6 percent on the prior year. Apart from container traffic, the Ports of Miami, Everglades, and Canaveral have held their positions as the top three cruise ports in the world. In its 2011 fiscal year, Canaveral reported its best year ever for cruise passenger traffic. The Brevard market faces drags on container traffic if the surrounding businesses cannot replace the jobs lost upon the sunset of the Space Shuttle program or prospective cuts in military budgets. Port authorities in Brevard still report overcrowding at existing cargo facilities on account of the rise in container traffic. Canaveral completes development of a new pier in 2012 and will kick off construction of another facility in the coming months. Liberty Property Trusts fourth quarter acquisition of 126 acres in Miami presages the development of the 1.6 million square foot Miami International Tradeport.
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Florida Hospitality Buoyed by Tourism The recovery in Florida tourism spending and the December, the Traymore Hotel in South Beach
return of large conventions that had avoided the state during the recession has parlayed into improving fundamentals and transaction activity for high-quality hotels, restaurant spaces, and other hospitality venues.
was sold for $17.5 million. In this case, the new sale exceeded the principal balance on the defaulted mortgage significantly, demonstrating that the best-positioned distressed assets can command healthy investor attention. In another fourth quarter South Beach trade, Hersha Hospitality Trust acquired the Courtyard Miami Beach Oceanfront for $95.0 million, more than $360,000 per key.
7%
Improving fundamentals have not kept hotel and hospitality owners that levered up prior to the recession from defaulting on their debt. In fact, several recent trades have involved funds acquiring notes and foreclosing on borrowers. In
Distressed Opportunities Increase as CMBS Loans from 2007 Reach Maturity Investors frustrated by a thin set of opportunities to buy distressed properties are
understandably skeptical of whether 2012 will see a shift in banks and special servicers handling of non-performing loans. Sales of distressed properties increased in the 2011. The underlying trends fueling the increase in activity will persist well into 2012 and beyond. As delinquency and default rates for bank-held mortgages have declined from their peaks, banks and their regulators have been increasingly inclined to liquidate non-performing loans and offload real properties from their balance sheets. Florida banks holdings of multifamily properties have become prime candidates for disposition as investor demand has strengthened and recovery rates have improved. Banks have been parting with REO assets in other sectors, as well. Roughly half the retail property trades in Orlando in 2011 were through banks or special servicers. Amongst the sales, Washington Shores Plaza was acquired in the fourth quarter for less than $40 per square foot. The outlook for failed construction projects remains uncertain, as default rates in Florida have diverged from the national trend, leaving almost one in every four loans in this category in default. Bank losses on these loans generally remain high. This January, PNC Bank internalized a loss of more than 70 percent on a stalled development project in Jupiter, south of Port St Lucie. CMBS represent a potentially larger source of distressed investment opportunities in 2012 and 2013. Five-year interest-only loans made at the markets peak in 2007 begin to mature in the first quarter. Hundreds of loans will fail to meet prevailing criteria for refinancing, requiring injections of new equity or new sponsorship. The mix of properties runs the gamut from the traditional to the unusual. In December, Zions First National Bank offloaded a former Montessori School in Boca Raton, recouping $1.5 million against a 2006 mortgage. Legacy Bank of Florida funded the current acquisition. Distressed industrial properties are often trading at deep discounts, as well. Also in December, SunTrust Bank sold a flex condominium unit in Venice, just south of Sarasota, for $195,000. The new price is roughly 40 percent of the $468,700 paid by the last owner in 2006.
4%
3% 2009 14% 12% 10% 8% 6% 4% 2% 0% 2009 26% 24% 22% 20% 18% 16% 14% 12% 10% 2009 2010 2011 2010 2011 2010 2011
FLORIDA
Sarasota Florida
A great place to liveA great place to invest
The nearby communities of Lakewood Ranch, Venice, and Bradenton are included in our market area.